Participants:
Scene Title | It's Complicated |
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Synopsis | Lexington's negative reaction to the 8th and martial law and girls burning books is solved with one simple suggestion… |
Date | November 15, 2010 |
Out on the street…
The day is growing cold and dreary as the Irish pair exit the bookstore, and there's a few drops on upturned faces, warning about oncoming rain. Seamus walks close to Lexi, blinking against the drops and he frowns against a cold wind. "That was…huh. Are all book signings like that?" he asks with a smile to his voice.
And Lexi walks with her hands stuffed in her jacket pockets, looking grumpy. Very grumpy. Breaking out the good booze grumpy. "E'ery book signin' I've e'er been t'," is her sassy answer. Since this is the only one she's bothered with, herself. "I don't guess ya thought about bringin' an umbrella?"
"Hmmm…" Seamus turns his head up to the sky, glaring at those clouds disapprovingly. "Jus' a little water. What're y' scared of, y' dainty lily?" Smiling crookedly to himself, he's already slipping out of his jacket, going to drape it over her shoulders as the rain starts to slowly pick up. "How many signin's y' been to that had a wannabe terrorist, and y' got up in arms about Evolved."
"Sugar melts in the rain, e'erbody knows that." Lexi smiles just a little when his jacket hits her shoulders, and she tucks it around herself. Sure, it dwarfs her smaller frame, but it's warm. "I didn't get up in arms about nothin'." Right. Of course.
"Guess you're safe then," Seamus quips right back, as automatic as breathing. His jacket smells strongly of him and his "work", but it's thick as a quilt and very soft on the inside. Well-loved. "Yeah, so wantin' t' set that girl on fire wi' yer eyes was jus' yer way of bein' friendly? What was it that got y' so bristley?"
And for that, Lexi gives him a firm hipcheck in retaliation. "Jackass," she mutters, her hands moving to her hips. "Hey, she was fuckin' crazy. She was really gonna light that shite up right there. I don't much care about her politics, but I don't like the idea've goin' out b'cause some kid decides to light a fire in a buildin' full've paper. Jesus tapdancin' Christ, what are they teachin' kids in schools here, huh?"
Seamus laughs, stumbling towards the side exaggeratedly, putting a hand on a lamppost to catch his balance. He puts his hands up, coming back over to Lexi's side with a grin. "Hey, y're not hearin' any arguments from me. If we weren't in that buildin', I'd be tempted to let her toss it and learn that lesson the hard way. A few good burns'd learn her." And they lapse into silence for the moment, Seamus looking Lexi sideways for a moment, searchingly.
ORDER: It is now your pose.
"People like that don't learn. They just hate till they die," Lexi says and really, it's just dripping with upset and possibly depression, even. For a woman with such high highs, is it any wonder she has such low lows, too? But she falls silent to brood over her current low, her frown deepening. Until she notices that gaze. "What?"
"What's happened to you, Lexi-girl?" Seamus asks, his jovial expression having fallen to something deeply concerned. He shoves his hands deep in his pocket, hunching his shoulders up against the biting chill of the air. "Ever since y' came back from back in time… An' where did y' disappear off to, anyways?"
"I don't know. Things just… got complicated, I guess. I was lookin' forward t'havin' some dull times, ya know. Just bein' a simple shop owner and procurer've rare items and that's it! But that boy showed up that day and e'erythin's all gone t' hell." Lexi slides her hands into the pockets on his jacket now, and she looks down toward her feet as they walk along. "And I went t'try t'get us out've here on the eighth, but there was this… li'l med station. And they just… were overflowin' with wounded and I stopped t'help and… when those soldiers showed up… it felt like Africa again. Or Berlin. Only it wasn't just some crazy drug runners or whate'er. It's the fuckin' government. I mean this is supposed t'be the home of the free, right? I'm pretty sure they yell that a lot about this country. But it was like some… fuckin' third world territory battle'r somethin'. Just linin' people up and shootin' 'em."
Seamus's eyes widen as his question is answered, and at length. His jaw works, just eyeing Lexi with deepening concern. His shoulders hunch more and more, as he looms over her protectively. "Fuckin' A… I hadn't heard o' that," he mutters, giving a lone pedestrian a glare, sending the poor guy scurrying quickly past Seamus and Lexi. "A medic station? They were takin' prisoners at a medic station?" Seamus sounds like he wants to spit. "What happened?"
"They were not takin' prisoners." Lexi looks over at him, blinking away threatening tears. "We were workin'. People busted up from the riotin'. Shot. Whathaveya. And that group came in. One've them… was this older gentleman. Flirted a bit. He was sweet. The others… they were just kids. Just fuckin'… kids. And this lady with a baby. And that older gent and this other one… the soldiers walked in and just shot them. Red scarves. Like that was reason enough. Ne'ermind they were wounded. They weren't runnin'. They didn't e'en get a warnin'. Just shot dead right there while I was tryin' t'pull bullets out've this lady…"
Lexi pauses her walk there, lips pressing together. A moment to collect herself, apparently. "Anyway. They said this group was terrorists'r some shite like that. And they took half've them and lined them up and shot 'em. Took the baby from the mother and gave it t'some random girl that was there. What the fuck is goin' on here?"
As Lexi pauses, she finds her hand wrapped up in a warm cocoon, as Seamus closes his fingers around it. He glances around, and tugs her quietly off the sidewalk, into the nook of a closed bookstore, out of the rain as it starts to patter loudly on the cement. Immediately, his arms go around her, whether she likes it or not, and he's playing the part of protector again, like putting on an old suit.
"Fuck 'em," he growls, and though he's trying to stay calming, it's clear it's got his hackles raised. "Fuck them an' the mothers what birthed them. I don't know what's wrong with this fuckin' country… Seems like everyone's goin' crazy. I was in the riots, did I tell ya? I've never seen animals like what I seen then."
And it seems Lexi doesn't mind just now, as she leans into that hold around her. She must be upset. "Ya didn't say so, no," she says, although without accusation, since she knows she's been fairly silent since it happened. "I missed bein' in 'em. Just got the aftermath."
"Y'didn't miss a whole lot," Seamus says, lying through his teeth. "Just people throwin' shit. 'Bout th' same y'd see in a football game." A real football game. Not the pansy-ass "handegg" Americans are so fond of. Leaning his head back, Seamus smiles down at his childhood friend, his hair already soaked and plastered over his forehead in dark curls. "If y' really missed it, how about we go find some mayhem to cause? Maybe wire a cop car to die?"
"Oh, well. Fuck that," Lexi says with a half-smile. Sure, she knows it's a lie, but one she's willing to go along with. "Ya know. I've been thinkin' mayhem's just what this town might be needin' a li'l more've." And oh, that smile that comes to her face there. It can only mean trouble.
Setting things on fire is, of course, very bad behavior.
Unless it's them doing it.
"A little mayhem, Irish-style," Seamus says, and hoo boy is he excited. Finally, seems like Lexi is getting back to her old self. He gives her a tight hug at that, pulling her body against his wet t-shirt. Looking out at the street though, he frowns. "Can't even light a fag in that downpour…Better get the waterproof caps."
At the hug, she does protest, leaning back to peer up at him. "Ayeee, do ya have t'do that when you're soaked t'the bone?" Because she's totally dry? No, because it's just how they work. But she looks out at the street, too, her head tilting a bit, "Come on, now. It's just like back home. Let's get back t'the shop, yeah? See about dryin' out."
"Well, when else should I do it? When a hug wouldn't leave ya soakin' wet? Tscha, right!" Seamus laughs richly at Lexi's suggestion, brushing water off the back of her coat and flinging it off hsi fingers and onto the ground. "Runnin' through the rain? Definitely reminds us of when we were kids. C'mon… First one back to the house gets t' sit by th' heater!" And he swats at her ass, pulling away to swerve out into the rain, grinning back at her the whole time.
"HEY, I'm callin' foul!" Lexi takes off after him, of course, just like when they were kids, yelling all the way. "Ya got freakish long legs, Seamus!" Like flicking a switch, she's back to laughing and, well, shoving him into storefronts to try to get ahead. They play dirty.
"Only foul here is water fowl, with th' way this rain is comin' down!" Seamus says with a laugh, actually running backwards for a bit to let Lexi catch up, a bit grin on his face. When she bodychecks him, he kicks a puddle at her, soaking her thoroughly with a laugh while racing along with her. Ahhh, rivalry.
And yet, it somehow still ends with Seamus arriving at the apartment tired and cold, with a similar Lexi riding on his back. Doesn't mean he isn't grinning widely, though. "Whew! First, I win!"
"I don't want t'know how you're bein' foul with water, Seamus!" Lexi yelps a bit at the cold when the water hits her, but keeps on running. But only to leap onto his back, because… she's very concerned about energy conservation.
"Aww, now, this is a classic tie, ya great ox. My legs are out in front, see?" But once inside, he gets shoved off to start up the heater while she goes to make cocoa. It is every terrorist's favorite rainy day activity.