cruelwonder | IC Contact

Play with Yorick. Draw. Watch movies-- you'd be amazed what I can sleep through nowadays, it's wild.

You're that tired?

[She looks concerned.]

Nah, I'm just used to him bangin' round, love, that's all. Don't worry.

[She almost grins at that.]

Nights in the manor are much the same. Someone's always up doing something...usually Gilbert's cooking until early morning.

[He snorts.]

And Alois is playin' dress up, I bet.

[She looks surprised.]

You know about that?

Oh yes.

[He rolls his eyes, albeit fondly.]

He and I were at a party once. He was in a dress.

[She sets a hand over her mouth to stifle her giggles.]

Oh. I see. I didn't realize it was a regular occurrence.

Jesus, yes. He's a good dancer, though, I'll give him that.

[He leans back, resting his elbows on the sand.]

[She smiles warmly, glancing out at the sun and the way it hits the water.]

...It's quite possibly the nicest view I've ever seen.

[A real view, that is.]

[He glances up, smiling as he takes in the sight.]

Yeah. We never-- back in New York, y'know, you had to climb up real high to see the sunsets, and usually I was workin' anyway. Anyway, so it still would set on the ocean, but . . . I don't know. It's better here. Cleaner. Do that make sense?

[He smiles once more at her back scooting back, tugging a piece of paper and a pencil.]

Hold still.

[She nods.]

Perfect sense. The east end of London always had smog. It wasn't clean. Sunsets looked like the entire city was on fire.

[Alice looks back at him.]

What are you doing?

You'll see. Just don't move a lot.

[He begins to sketch her, keeping the paper tilted upward.]

Tell me about London.

[She doesn't, letting him work.]

Where I first lived, we had quite a few acres of land to our name. We lived by a forest as well. Our house was lovely and we could easily get into London, where Father taught. Lizzie used to take me for long walks.

[She smiles faintly.]

I wonder, sometimes, what it would be like if I had grown up outside of that asylum room. I think, then, London's dirt and grime would not have surprised me as much as it did when I was released. I thought I had gone mad once more when I first saw where I was to live.

God, yeah.

[He whistles softly, meeting her eyes for a moment.]

Your home sounds brilliant, though. God, I used to--

[He grins, shaking his head.]

I used to dream me and mine could live somewhere like that. My Ma and Pop and Ben . . . specially that it ain't in the city. I love cities, don't get me wrong, but it'd be nice to get out into the country too. What'd your father teach?

[She gives him a sympathetic smile.]

It was beautiful. I wish I could have shown it to you. You would have liked it.

[One day, perhaps she'd draw it...when she's not too afraid of invoking old memories of the fire.]

Oh, I don't really remember... History, I think. He had a wild passion for photography. Our entire living room was full of his photographs and film equipment.

[That earns a laugh.]

Nothin' wrong with that. He photo anythin' interestin'?

Bugs. People. The outdoors. He took pictures of anything to test things.

[She smiles.]

He took a picture of us once. I looked like such a terror because I wouldn't smile. They almost didn't let me have my rabbit in the picture with me.

[He snorts.]

That's my girl right there.

[Jack hesitates for a moment before leaning forward, handing her the paper. It's a rough sketch, not very detailed-- but it's definitely Alice, smiling, one hand curling in her hair.]

[She looks almost embarrassed.]

I was a wicked child.

[And a wicked adult. She takes the paper and stops, staring down at it. Slowly, her face breaks out into a smile.]

This is... Jack, it's lovely.

Ah, well, that's the subject more than the artist, you know.

[He smiles, though, obviously pleased with the reaction.]

Absolutely not. You have a talent.

[She leans over and kisses his cheek.]

[He smiles and leans over, kissing her more firmly.]

Let's call it both, hey?

[She murmurs against his lips:]

All right.

[And then she's a little too distracted with kissing him to think of much else to say.]

[He grins, pushing her gently back onto the sand, his fingers pushing through her hair.]

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