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Post by GERARD MIEVILLE on Sept 18, 2011 4:00:54 GMT -5
there wasn’t much of a reason behind this, and just by looking at him it was obvious that he hadn’t a clue what he was doing. trips to the library were rare for him, because in theory he should be off writing his own book. truth be told he’d just finished his round up of his latest, and strategically plodded himself into relaxation mode. makes people wonder why he’s out an about and not a home doing whatever it is people do.
gerard is almost inconspicuous, wearing jeans, trainers and a dress shirt, a jacket thrown over the seat he was sitting on. The only thing that gave him away was his size and his hair, and then again, it was a library. silence was maximum, and the only people there were a few young toddlers and their parents, a few elderly and him. perhaps someone interesting would arrive, or maybe not. it was like him to predict anything of the sorts. he wasn’t a fortune teller, he didn’t have clairvoyance or any manner of weird or wonderful abilities, even if he would have liked to posses a few of them as a luxury.
he got up and looked around to himself, flipping through old books and new books and books he used to read as a kid. he smiled as he reminisced, remembering how he felt when he finished reading his first book, how he always got excited in english when he knew exactly what he was doing, knowing one hundred percent that he’d get an a*. it was a long time ago, and now he lived for this very experienced and rather ancient art. it was amazing people still loved it like he did, he guessed it was as timeless as music and a stroll on the beach in the early morning.
he smiled to himself. if this were any place but utopia, he’d probably be in a juvenile hall for killing his step-father by know, in prison maybe for all of his life. he didn’t think he could have dealt with that, seeing what he had now. yes, he knew this placed was messed up for some people, but without it people like him had to suffer with what other people programmed into them, what their miserable lives previously had wired them to be. he knew that without this place he would have been a sociopath; he had been tested for the psychopath’s brain, and matched a killer almost perfectly. charisma, cunning and intelligence. fortunatly he hadn’t been driven to the point of killing someone, and now he was here, less of a threat to anybody else than he would have been on the outside.
it was why he hated the rebels and everything they stood for. this place was home, somewhere he could raise a family without putting them in danger of the outside world. he didn't want that for anybody else.
he selected a pile of books from multiple sections, placing them onto the table quietly. sneaky, he pulled out a pen and a note pad, writing down the names of the books and author. he himself had no idea what this was going to equate to, but he selected a random book and began to read to himself. out the corner of his eye he could see a girl looking at him in what seemed to be titillated shock. he smiled quickly at her and she corrected herself, smiling back before dashing off quickly. he sighed and turned the page. sometimes he wished all fans were like that.
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Post by BLAKE WALKER on Sept 20, 2011 19:03:37 GMT -5
 you ain't seen nothin yet
it was a gorgeous day and he was going to spend it inside.
how that logic worked, he had yet to figure out, because all blake knew was that it was sunny and it was breezy and he was drunk. he'd just consumed five or so peppermints to keep the stench from his breath, but that didn't stop it from being true. besides, not one of those peppermints was doing any good now that he had a lit cigarette burning out the side of his mouth.
he'd gotten a case recently, a fairly basic one that would take little effort to solve, should he have been sober.
but as it was, he was not, and planned on using the case - some trivial thing, a break-in of some sort, he hadn't cared to listen at the debriefing - as an excuse for wandering off on the job.
and somehow, blake had wandered to the library. the one place he hardly ever visited in utopia. because it was the place where the 'smart people' went. where the books containing complicated formulas and physics and plain old books full of words were kept. he didn't want to be near them, if he could help it.
yet here he was. taking a quick drag on his cigarette and pushing his blue-tinted sunglasses onto the top of his head, blake waltzed inside through the large glass doors, ignoring the librarian who chastised him for smoking and the eyes that followed him. without any destination in mind, he went straight towards the shelves of books and the open area where people were seated at tables in the center of them, stopping and placing his hands on his hips to survey the scene.
spotting a familiar face, the detective grinned and headed over. "mieville!" he practically shouted, throwing his hands in the air and causing a few cigarette ashes to fall on the floor, a singular wisp of smoke rising in the opposite direction. again the librarian snapped at him, and again he ignored her completely, plopping into the seat across from his mahogany-haired friend without a backwards glance. "just the man i wanted to see. how's the family? get boring at home or something? i wouldn't have expected to run into you here, of all places!" he dropped his tone to a more appropriate volume for a library as he spoke - though of course, it wasn't nearly what it should be - knowing that gerard probably wouldn't appreciate it if he went around yelling stuff about his wife and child.
gerard was a private man, after all, and even a drunk blake knew better than to make him too angry when he needed information.
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Post by GERARD MIEVILLE on Sept 21, 2011 23:55:03 GMT -5
if he had been expecting to see someone, he would have obviously come much better prepared than he already was. he didn't have nothing on him that could deal with anybody at the moment. however, he had not been expecting anybody at all. he as here for whatever reason, sitting down and doing something he hoped would be productive. one could say reading some reviews could be productive but he always found something to pick at in critic reviews. they always took something or other the wrong way.
gerard would have noticed the loud entry of his friend, but was miraculously caught between the pages of a book he used to read as a kid. he would have smiled if it wasn't for the fact he had gotten up painfully early to find that alice had gone out to work and her colleges had wanted to see the son of a millionaire. he had been bored, and for an hour or so he had just sat back and done nothing, hoping that something interesting would come up; that he was needed for the ubc or alice wanted him to visit her.
however, nothing like that had happened.
when he had looked over in reaction to his name, he could see a blonde haired man looking at him, smiling like a lunatic. of all places, this guy had to find him here. in a public library. hint the work public and library. blake looked ridiculous as he threw his hands up int the air, drawing attention to himself. a couple of other people looked over to see, although soon went back to their business as they saw gerard watch blake sit down, smoking.
"just the man i wanted to see. how's the family? get boring at home or something? i wouldn't have expected to run into you here, of all places!"
gerard ducked his head, trying to make himself smaller as more people looked around to see what all the fuss was about. from a couple of directions he could hear people whispering. his name came up several times and he cringed.
gerard stared at blake from across the table, shutting the book and sitting forwards, still looking gargantuan in size. he thought to himself, and then after a few seconds noted that it was obvious that blake was, like usual, drunk.
"have you gone fucking do-laly?" gerard hissed, nothing above a whisper, "you know this is going to make front page if you don't get the fuck out of here." gerard had a feeling that blake wouldn't leave; if so, he'd have to get up and out with him while he still could. something told him that was going to be relatively impossible too. he'd have to sit here and wait it out and hope that there was no-one here with a horrible sense of humor and a camera. that was his job and he'd rather much like to keep it, since it paid handsomely for someone like him.
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Post by BLAKE WALKER on Sept 22, 2011 18:47:48 GMT -5
you ain't seen nothin yet
blake held up his hands in surrender as gerard hissed at him, cigarette dangling haphazardly from his lip. "easy big guy." he cautioned, lowering his voice on the note that the man opposite him was hunkered down in the chair, his voice a breath of sound in the silence, clearly not wanting to be seen with the blond haired weirdo who'd just walked in.
well, that greeting didn't go as planned. shrugging his shoulders, blake spun around in the chair so he was sitting properly, one hand going to the cigarette, the other resting on the tabletop. "you know i've been do-laly since i was a fetus. hope you don't use that word around your kid, man. bad habits'll start croppin up all over the place."
a grin, then pause, as blake toyed with his cigarette."by the way, it's good to see you too, friend. i've been very good, thanks for asking." his blue eyes glittering in a way that was somewhere between dull and drunk, sharp and intelligent, and laughing. the fact that this 'encounter,' as it might be known , might make the front page was of no importance to him. for a variety of reasons.
one, he'd gotten his fair share of publicity in his younger years, thanks to his famous mom and dad and whatnot. second, he liked to make others feel uncomfortable. and third, and most importantly to gerard, he was a detective. if something did get to the publishing company, he could call it classified and have them pull it from the paper.
no biggie.
he didn't really feel like explaining it to gerard though. more fun to see how the millionaire reacted. "oh, why am i here?" he continued the conversation with himself, waving the cigarette in a noncommittal motion. "interesting that you'd ask. now, here's the thing... some dude like, robbed a store or something, and the cops have no idea who, so they stuck it on me." blake snorted and rolled his eyes like, 'how did that happen?' a few more eyes came his way at the noise, and he simply, lazily, rolled his head over their way and winked. that made them look away pretty quick.
"anyway," he turned back to gerard, taking another puff off his cigarette as he did so. "what do ya think? you gonna help me out, or kick me out? cause you know, you could do either, though i must say i have a bit of a thing goin on for the first one."
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Post by GERARD MIEVILLE on Sept 24, 2011 15:46:36 GMT -5
gerard relaxed as blake threw up his hands in surrender and sat down, knowing he could get blake to calm down and lower his voice a little more so that they didn’t draw as much attention to themselves as possible. he didn’t need to be on the front page anytime soon, he’d had the spotlight for long enough, and alice would get annoyed at him for whatever reasons she had.
gerard cringed at the smoke rising into his face as blake carelessly did his thing. he knew that blake understood the rules of the library and that he wasn’t allowed to smoke in here, there were to many children and elderly in here and it was a public space; anything that people didn’t agree with didn’t go down. gerard liked it here for that reason and decided he should come down more often, although perhaps in disguise.
it was a strange thing, to be sitting here with the detective he loved to share a banter and a drink or two with. he hadn’t expected him to be here, for whatever reason it may be. even if it was a case or something; the library? it was a strange thought, but he’d keep his mind open to reasons and maybe blake would come up with something that would make him laugh.
"you know i've been do-laly since i was a fetus. hope you don't use that word around your kid, man. bad habits'll start croppin up all over the place."
gerard shook his head and chuckled as blake warned him of his language; that and the fact he knew all to well, that blake had always been a little odd and he liked him for that. “don’t worry, blake, I don’t splatter profanities around my own so, that’d be corrupting him.” he winked at blake and spun his pen around in his fingers before tapping it on the table. he wondered what blake’s reason was for being here and he was intrigued.
"interesting that you'd ask. now, here's the thing... some dude like, robbed a store or something, and the cops have no idea who, so they stuck it on me."
gerard tilted his head to one side and smirked to himself. now that was a weird occurrence and he wanted to know more a little more. he looked at blake with an enquiring eye, shining like a curious bird or fox, if he had had canine ears they would be tilted forward slightly. perhaps he could write a little something on it for an extra £12’000 in the bank (he’d just got £430’000 from his latest release, not introducing interviews and public appearances).
he watched as blake looked over and gave a wink to people looking at them with strange, curious hawk eyes. he didn’t want to be the centre of attention outside of his job and career, it was awkward and it wasn’t a comfortable experience. Ssometimes when he was out and about the paparazzi decided to find him he’d get slightly abusive; most of the time he would turn, drop anything heavy and leg it to the car before skidding, smoke bellowing from the tyres, back home as quick as possible.
“what do ya think? you gonna help me out, or kick me out? cause you know, you could do either, though i must say i have a bit of a thing goin on for the first one."
gerard chewed on his pen, finding that an interest kindled in him, he felt the urge to pick up a pen and get into new reporter mode. he was already displaying his official mannerisms, flicking his note book to the back and tapping the back of the pen on it. he licked his lips and smiled. “i’ll think i’ll kick you out and help you. i need something to do as of late. alice is practicing a bit of, uh… abstinence.” gerard smirked to himself and shook his head.
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Post by BLAKE WALKER on Sept 24, 2011 20:21:44 GMT -5
you ain't seen nothin yet
he'd piqued his interest. that much he knew, even as out of it as he was.
grinning even more broadly in triumph, he settled back against the chair, tilting backwards so the front legs came off the ground a ways. he folded his arms across his chest and again removed the cigarette from his mouth, letting it fall to his side with smoke still curling from its lit end.
"ahh, trouble with the wife." blake nodded as if he could possibly relate to what gerard was talking about. "see, this is why i stay single." teasing gerard about his love life was just something he enjoyed about his friend's company. he knew, of course, that they were in love and in some respects, he was happy for and jealous of them for that very reason.
but then again, there were some perks to being single.
especially when he was drunk.
casting another glance over his shoulder, he noticed the librarian glaring over at their table with sharp, annoyed eyes. he winked at her, oblivious to the ashes on the carpet and the smell of smoke polluting the once spotless library, and turned back to his companion. "well. if you're gonna kick me out, you might wanna do it fast, cause i think that lady over there might just beat ya to it."
he chuckled to himself and then fell forward, the legs of the chair making a soft thumping noise against the carpet as he did so. "so, step one to solving the case: get drunk. step two: go buy me a new case of smokes, 'cause i'm almost out. everything after that is whatever the hell real police officers do to solve stuff." he prattled off the agenda with a voice that was bordering on serious, because in a way, he was.
not that he wasn't kidding, because that was true too. he just really needed another drink and some new cigarettes, because already he could feel the alcohol levels in his blood lowering, sharpening his senses to an uncomfortably close to sober stage. as for the smokes, well, he was on his last one, and that was never good.
"so?" blake pressed, leaning forward again and putting his cigarette back in his mouth. "sound like a plan, or are you gonna make it all 'professionalized?'" he rolled his eyes dramatically and looked up at his dark red haired friend, still grinning like a fool.
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Post by GERARD MIEVILLE on Oct 7, 2011 14:18:44 GMT -5
gerard quickly got used to the smell of smoke and alcohol coming from the blonde pc. after hanging around him for a good proportion of his time, it had only seemed natural for him to ignore those nasty smells that would otherwise make him gag. it was a shame, really, that he was the only one used to the pungent smells.
gerard could hear people whispering in and he figured that it was about the time he should leave- taking blake with him to ease some of the gossiping that was going on. if he ended up in another scandal on the front page alice would all but kill him. she didn't want gerard going around and making a fool of himself and blackening his name, no matter how dark the shade of gray already was.
he looked at blake and then around again, before settling and leaning forward. blake spoke, mentioning the librarian. gerard looked briefly and smiled. he knew her once, alright girl but a little feisty. he knew that she could throw blake out by the scruff at any give time. it was who she was; brutal.
he held back a small smirk and went back to business briefly. he continued to listen to his police friend; his information buddy. gerard wondered what he'd get himself into: this could spell nothing but trouble, but perhaps it was a good trouble. he wouldn't mind writing a small article on something minusule like this; although his reputation would make it the news of the day. it's gerard mieville reporting on this shindig, that must mean its big news!
that's how it usually went.
he had done some work previously with blake on more... touchy subjects; murder, rape, rebels. they were like the shaggy and scooby of utopia, although one of them was at least half smart and the other a semi-alcoholic. he didn't think that would make a good kids cartoon.
"sure, fine. i'll get you another drink and some smokes. doesn't bother me."
gerard waved his hand and piled his books up, before writing down a note to remind him to use cash; cash is king. if alice knew he was buying alcohol and cigarettes for blake and not teddies and toys for isaac she'd go nuts.
gerard didn't shop for food, alice didn't trust him with it. he'd come home with tea, biscuits, sweets and an assortment of cakes. and a big bunch of flowers.
"i ain't got much to spend the money on. i need another kid before i break the bank; this money needs to go somewhere soon." he tapped his pocket, suggesting that he'd planned on spending a tonne already. if he didn't, the figures would rise and he'd get sick of it all; he'd already opened a bank account for isaac and was depositing a 'fair' amount of money per month (by fair, he meant a couple hundred).
gerard got up and put the books back with a tenderness only the most enthusiastic of bookworms would show. he turned to blake and pointed to the door with a smirk. "c'mon, lets scidaddle quickly. hey, if i help you, can you convince alice that another baby would be a good idea? she won't stop complaining about how bored she is." he winked playfully, before looking to the librarian and waving.
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Post by BLAKE WALKER on Oct 9, 2011 12:51:22 GMT -5
you ain't seen nothin yet
"woot!" blake celebrated, leaning back again and pumping a fist in the air for no apparent reason. several more people turned to stare, but only briefly this time; as if they too were getting used to the blond disruption. that, or they were ashamed of being interested in such an idiot.
"you're the best, gerry." he remarked, getting up with a bit of a wobble before righting himself, his grin never fading. even if he had fallen over, it was more than likely that he would've just cracked up like the whole thing was extremely amusing and stayed spread-eagled on the floor until someone made him move.
it was just his way. orderly chaos and helpful distractions, he called it.
"hey, if you've got too much of that disgusting green stuff, i know just how to help." he winked and stretched his arms over his head, yawning broadly as he did so. he waited for gerard to put the books away with an air of utter boredom, though his expression and the way he stood - leaning precariously forward, then farther back as he tried to correct himself, so he rocked back and forth like a true drunk - were complacent enough.
"another kid?" he raised his eyebrows, falling into step beside his friend as he walked for the exit, blowing a kiss at the librarian as he went to counter gerard's friendly wave. "gee whiz. already?" he exhaled a mouthful of smoke and watched the wisps float upwards. "well, if you're sure you want me to be the one to help convince the pretty lady she should get all fat and happy again for nine months, sure. i'm your dude." he paused at the doorway to turn and bow at the librarian and the people in the library. "adios, amigos!" he called with a heavy, fake accent that sounded more chinese than spanish. "the blakester is out!"
he straightened up and spun around, tipping his blue sunglasses back into his eyes as he reached for the door. "hey, if she's bored, she should come hang out with me more often. i'm fantabulous at getting people to loosen up, eh?" he cast his gaze around the street with his hands on his hips, yawning again. "how's she doin, anyway? besides the whole boredom-abstinence shebang.that's a bit hypocritical of her, by the way." he glanced over with a smirk. "and the kid, what's his name. something biblical? meh, who am i kidding. i don't read the bible."
he yawned again and abruptly changed the subject, yanking the cigarette from his mouth and tapping the ashes off. "why would anyone rob a store, do ya think? i mean in the old world maybe, but here? here if something pisses you off you just come complaining and everything's patched up real nice." still staring out onto the street, blake frowned at the passing people as if every one of them was a suspect. "damn. i really need a drink. listen to me talk, all smart like."
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Post by GERARD MIEVILLE on Oct 18, 2011 15:47:03 GMT -5
blake seemed to celebrate and gerrard smiled complacently. he thought as the blonde stood, stretching and looking awfully unstable as he got up. it was as if he was about to fall over and his his head on the table behind him, and that would be even more ridiculous. gerrard didn't know how he'd react to that happening, it was probably not in a good way; running off, carrying him back to the station, he might have even drawn glasses and whiskers on blake's face if he had fallen and knocked himself out.
that was sure to grab some attention.
gerard put the books back, carefully slipping his notebook and pen into his back, slinging it over his shoulder. he followed as blake began to head out of the library, the drunken fool blowing a kiss at the libarian, and gerrard mouthed 'sorry' to her in an effort to keep himself in the clear. he tried not to smile at the antic.
blake commented on the kid business and gerard smiled like a small child.
"yep. crazy, huh? i'm not sure if she'll be happy for the most part, but most definitely fat and busy." he smirked again and watched as blake made a dramatic exit.
he wondered how many people sighed with relief when the two left their carnage behind. probably everybody in the whole building. if the worst happened, the newspapers would call him a scandalous man who hung out with a drunk. half of that was true, he admitted.
he looked around the street, and all seemed perfectly normal. not a shop-robbing type day, in all fairness. gerrard was asking himself why trouble happened here; true, the rebels were nuts, but normal people went on with their lives, it didn't matter if the prices were high, utopia was almost perfect.
at least it was to him, anyway. he'd die before he'd see it destroyed.
"alice's fine, just a little annoyed for some reason. she seems to take isaac everywhere with her; i hardily see the kid anymore. also, i don't read the bible much either, just seemed to fit."
gerrard paused and looked at blake, who changed the subject and looked around, observing everybody like a fox or a hawk. sometimes blake went into detective mode and didn't even realize it. it made gerrard smile with glee.
gerrard smiled and ran a hand through his hair, checking his wallet briefly before putting back into his bag. he laughed at the small joke blake told; him? smart? never. he was though, he could be at times. he wasn't stupid, that was for sure. just drunk most of the time, as if for a practical joke. gerrard didn't drink much himself, only on special occasions.
"i'm not sure who would do it either, walker. but someone did." gerrard walked down the street towards a corner shop, intending to by some cigarettes and some kind of alcohol for blake. "c'mon, let's get your stuff so you can think." gerrard smiled at that sarcasm, leading blake down and towards the end of the street.
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Post by BLAKE WALKER on Oct 20, 2011 18:24:01 GMT -5
you ain't seen nothin yet
"ehhh?" his moment of seriousness appearing to be gone, blake tipped his head sideways to look at his friend, his eyes - which still held a trace of utter sobriety in their blue depths - just visible beneath the lenses of the sunglasses. "tsk, gerry. marriage problems already? you've only been married for what? a year?" he shrugged and righted his head, ignorant to the wrongness of the statement.
gerard seemed to find his last statement amusing, which was good. if he'd taken it seriously, that meant his 'cover' was blown, so to speak. and he'd have to work even harder at making sure nobody ever found out what his brain could do, if he put it to a job. he didn't want to have to deal with the questions.
although admittedly, in his half-sober - or half-drunk, depending on how one looked at it - the slowly awakening intelligent pride was slightly annoyed by the disbelief.
blake clamped a mental fist over it, though, and with a laugh at gerard's sarcasm, followed his tall friend down the street, his gait long and lazy in itself. a couple of times he came dangerously close to bumping into an innocent passerby, but usually they moved out of his way when he shot them a grin. that, or he remembered at the last moment and moved so quickly out of the way that he startled them and sent his head spinning, not fully recovered from the alcohol.
but walking like that, lurching and uneven and precarious, was part of the fun of being drunk. even if he was dangerously close to sober, what was the harm in pretending? besides, he had no idea where he was going anyway. or, maybe he did. either way, he didn't pay much attention to the direction, letting his friend lead the way while his eyes strayed from left to right, taking in people with a detective-like glint that was also hidden by the sunglasses. it wasn't like the suspect could be here, but blake couldn't help it. it was one of the burdens of his smart half; one of the many reasons he wanted to pin it down.
life was no fun when everyone was a suspect.
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II
