(no subject)

[the_hermit]

Who: Daniel and Merritt
What: The bad nights and managing to get along


the_hermit: *well, he needs all the help he can get*

the_lovers: *oh, wow. that's very clever. did your mommy help you with that?*

the_hermit: *nope. yours did. last night.*

the_lovers: *he didn't know you were into necrophilia. that explains ... well, it explains a lot*

the_hermit: *wow, way to kill the room*

the_lovers: *you started it*

the_lovers: *never mind the fact that he's not even really sure his mother is dead. he hasn't seen his parents in ages*

the_lovers: *it really wouldn't surprise him, though, all things considered*

the_hermit: *hooray estranged family*

the_lovers: *hooray!* So, are you going to keep standing there, doing that thing you do or can I hope you'll go away sometime in the next, oh, century?

the_hermit: *takes a drink out of his mug, shrugging as he does* You can hope. And I can hope you decide to stop proving my first impression right some day. *offers him an overly pleasant little smile that doesn't get near his eyes*

the_lovers: *he flashes him a similar smile in return and then refocuses his attention on shuffling the cards at high speed* Some day. Not today.

the_hermit: Okay then, Aragorn. *moves on into the room, perching on the arm of one of the other chairs*

the_lovers: *he snorts, and then under his breath ... * Wow, you definitely just went there.

the_hermit: Nothing about how I'm probably old enough to have been around when he wrote the books? I'm shocked. *and the smile's more real, this time*

the_lovers: *he looks up from the cards, dimly amused despite the fact that he's not smiling* I was trying to spare your fragile ego.

the_hermit: *admitting...* I am a delicate and fragile flower, it's true.

the_lovers: It's not your fault. I mean, old things do have a tendancy to fall apart if you poke at them too much, right?

the_lovers: *a beat* Oh, I'm sorry. My bad.

the_hermit: *just as seriously* And prickly things have a tendency to get hit with a flamingo.

the_lovers: ... what? *no, really, that went over his head. blame the fact that he's really only half checked in to this conversation -- not because he's trying to be rude, honestly, but because his mind is elsewhere -- but ... what the hell does a flamingo have to do with anything?*

the_hermit: *shakes his head a little, gesturing to the deck with his mug before he takes another drink* Queen of Hearts. *Alice in Wonderland reference, don't mind him*

the_lovers: *he makes a little face, though it's more directed at himself than Merritt* Right. *now he gets it. and as if he has to prove he does, he shuffles through the cards where Merritt can see them, and they're all the Queen of Hearts. don't ask how he did it. he's magic*

the_hermit: *and that gets another real smile. very nice*

the_lovers: *when he thumbs through them again, they're back to being your average deck* Speaking of you being old and all, shouldn't you be in bed?

the_hermit: *immediately* Don't you need your beauty sleep?

the_lovers: *he makes a small, amused noise and returns his attentions to the cards to hide the fact that the smile that follows is real, if tired* Maybe, but someone around here needs to do, you know, actual work.

the_lovers: *he's been working on the plans for their next show, if that statement and the notebook on the coffee table in front of him is any indication. he's gotten to the point where it's starting to frustrate him, though -- likely because he should be in bed -- so, he decided to take a break and practise card tricks*

the_hermit: *shifts sideways to sit properly in the chair* That the only reason you're not sleeping?

the_lovers: Don't do that. *and by 'that' he assumes Merritt is trying to read him, which he doesn't want him to do, because no, that's not the only reason he's not sleeping. he had not-quite-nightmares last night and he's half-afraid it'll be worse, tonight*

the_lovers: *and yeah, he's aware that it's probably pretty obvious, given both him obsessing over the show and the cards, but ... *

the_lovers: *he doesn't quite realize they all have tells*

the_hermit: *they really, really do - and okay, now he gets it* Don't do what? *and for once, he's actually not trying to be a pain*

the_lovers: *he just looks at him*

the_hermit: *sighs and sets his mug on the chair's arm, then reaching up to run a hand over his head as he sits up a little* Look. We survived a year together, and none of us went anywhere after they locked up Bradley. I still think you're a little shit, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. I don't do... *gestures to his own head* to make you uncomfortable. *a beat, before, admitting again* Okay, fine, maybe I do sometimes. But I've been doing it so long that it doesn't stop, anymore than you can turn off that severe case of the Type A's you've got going on. *he sighs* Talk about it or not, that's up to you, but I'll tell you from personal experience that if you go with not.... *makes a face. bottling up = bad. and yes, there's definitely some pot and kettle going on there, but that's how he knows*

the_lovers: *at the little shit comment* Yeah, well, if it helps any, the feeling's mutual. *other than that, though, he stays silent, going back to doing tricks with the cards, though obviously listening. a moment of silence follows after Merritt finishes as he pulls the Ace of Clubs out of the deck. he focuses on it, rather than looking directly at him, but his expression softens just the tiniest bit, all the same* There's not really much to talk about. *and that's the truth -- he doesn't remember the dream, just that he woke up feeling on edge. he half-expected his father to come in the door to his room for a minute or two after he woke up*

the_hermit: Sometimes there's not. *a beat* Sometimes it helps anyway.

the_lovers: *again, he's silent for a moment or two, the look on his face wavering, as if he's torn between blowing Merritt off or talking. finally, though, he sighs* I woke up this morning feeling like there was someone in the suite. *he figures Merritt can do the math*

the_hermit: *yes. yes, he can* Ah. That happens. *that feeling, not someone actually being in the suite, obv*

the_lovers: *half seriously, half sarcastically* Does being stuck with that uneasiness all day happen, too?

the_hermit: *gives him a "seriously?" sort of look in return* Jack gets up and goes running as soon as he can see well enough to not trip over drunk people. I sit here and drink coffee all night. *and so on*

the_lovers: *again with the half-sarcasm -- he figured that was the case, but he's also a little annoyed with himself for being so paranoid and wanted to make sure it wasn't just him* Right. *which, speaking of, he glances at the mug Merritt brought in and then to him, his eyebrows raised. not that he cares, but ... he wonders if that's coffee*

the_hermit: *it's not just him. it hasn't just been him since the four of them got together a year and some ago* Of course I am. *follows Daniel's glance to his mug and lets out a wry breath of a laugh* Sometimes it's actually coffee. *it is, tonight*

the_lovers: In the 'not planning on sleeping tonight' vein? *or ... ?*

the_hermit: *runs a hand over his face* I haven't decided yet.

the_lovers: *after a moment* You know, I know this guy. Most of the time, he's a real asshole -- know-it-all, you know, that sort of thing -- but sometimes he says things that actually don't make him sound like he has a stick up his ass and somewhere around, oh, a few seconds ago, he told me that sometimes group therapy helps.

the_hermit: *and there's another wry laugh. fair enough* I've got even less to talk about. *but... turnabout and fair play and all that* I got lucky, I got screwed, and then I got lucky again. You keep waiting on someone to come in, I keep waiting for someone to leave.

the_lovers: I'm pretty sure if we were going to, we would have done it before now. *he's also pretty sure that if any of them screwed any of the others like Merritt's brother did him, there'd be a line to hunt them down and make them suffer, starting probably with Dylan*

the_hermit: *he knows* Do you really think anyone else is getting in here without one of us knowing? *and yes, that's rhetorical. he knows, logically, that they're a team and unlikely to go anywhere. but.*

the_lovers: ... point taken.

the_hermit: *just shrugs a little with a slightly unhappy face before he downs the rest of his coffee and sets the mug back on the chair's arm*

the_lovers: *he finally stops fidgeting with the cards, setting them on the coffee table on top of his notebook if only so he can rub at his eyes* Well. This has been ... something. *and that said, he gets up and heads into the kitchen to get a cup of coffee, himself. he'd have a drink, but he's kind of on board with certain other muses on the issue of alcohol*

the_hermit: *chuckles, tracking his movements to the kitchen before he rubs at his own eyes* Enlightening comes to mind.

the_lovers: Enlightening. *he tilts his head to the side as if he's testing the word* Not the word I would have picked, but let's go with that.

the_hermit: You prefer a different one?

the_lovers: Yeah. Something more like depressing. *that would be his way of apologizing for all the shit Merritt's been through, even if it's not his fault. he knows how much life sucks sometimes*

the_hermit: *smiles a little, then, even if Daniel can't see it from where he is* I told you I got lucky. *getting picked for this. it... might not fix everything his brother did, but it's. close enough. and he still hates that the kids know how much life sucks. but at least they have this*

the_lovers: *he comes back with his coffee, something like hesitation flickering across his face. mostly because he feels like he did, too, but he can't say that* Okay, slightly less than depressing, then.

the_hermit: Maybe a little. *and have another smile. because yeah. he gets that*

the_lovers: *he smiles, too, briefly and badly guarded, but real, then takes a sip of his coffee*

the_hermit: So the moral of the story is we're all stuck with each other whether we like it or not. *and yes, he's being an ass on purpose again*