Gilbert Kinkaid Walker (veryperceptive) wrote in dc_nextgen,
@ 2011-03-25 00:21:00

Entry tags:

Ms. Torres, you've got a lovely daughter.
The zombies started coming back to life. Intact. Wow. That was.... way more awesome than anything he was hopingfor here. He vaguely remembered something like that from the papers, but he'd thought Uncle Jed was just going with a forcibly Happy Ever After as he read.

He went looking for Zoe in the mess and chaos, blood still running down his cheek.

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	zoe_torres 2011-03-25 06:34 am UTC (link)
	"Nothing wrong with your name. You'd be just as prissy if somebody named you Hank." A tiny attempt at humor. She was so bad at it. "Zoe Torres. That lawyer I wanted you to keep watch on while I was busy is my mom.' (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	veryperceptive 2011-03-25 06:36 am UTC (link)
	Lame or not, GK grins anyway. "I thought she might be." He gets out his phone, brings up the Recent Text Messages, and hands it to her. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	zoe_torres 2011-03-25 06:41 am UTC (link)
	Zoe wiped her hands on her pants before taking the phone and scrolling through. "Yeah, she's always worried I don't have friends. Kind of hard to tell her that the kind of friends she wants me to have are the kind that just don't get involved at this level. Kinda surprised she bought the story that I'm too scared to leave your place." (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	veryperceptive 2011-03-25 06:46 am UTC (link)
	"Well, when you show up with a guy with a slightly-chipped French manicure, she'll probably just assume it was less that you were scared and more that I was clinging to you the whole time," he says grinning. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	zoe_torres 2011-03-25 06:53 am UTC (link)
	She smiled at that because Michelle /would/ assume something along those lines once she met GK. "Yeah. I don't want to scare her, so can I shower at your place before I go home? Can't do anything about the clothes but the zombie fluids might be too much." (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

veryperceptive
2011-03-25 07:00 am UTC (link)

"Of course."

And eventually, they've made it to Union Avenue, and there's a house with outside steps leading to the basement, which contains a small apartment with a small bathroom, small kitchenette, and a main bedroom.

Tiny windows line the top of the pastel-blue walls, and bright lights line the vanity set over the small mahogany chest-of-drawers. The only other furniture in the room are the bed with an excessively old and battered Piglet doll atop the soft gray comforter, and a huge antique Victorian dollhouse, multiple stories and four feet high.

GK grabs some makeup-removal and disinfectant cloths for his face, and a rag for his swordstick. "Bathroom's right in there. Towels are fresh."

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zoe_torres
2011-03-25 07:09 am UTC (link)

The room was a lot more prissy, to use GK's word, than her room had been as a little girl. Her furniture was cheap and looked it. His looked like he'd carted it out of the family estate. The antique dollhouse drew her across the room to look at it. The only place she'd ever seen a similar one was at the museum.

"Thanks," she said distractedly, peering into a few of the tiny windows. "This is yours."

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veryperceptive
2011-03-25 07:25 am UTC (link)

There's little doll furniture in little doll rooms, and the dolls have old fashioned little dresses -- well, most of them. One or two were clearly... updated about ten years ago.

"Yeah," he said smiling. "It was great-grandma Unity's back at the turn of the century -- the last time it turned, I mean, not the most recent time. Real quality craftsmanship back then. She had a thing about its being passed down."

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	zoe_torres 2011-03-25 03:38 pm UTC (link)
	A guy with a dollhouse. Who wore makeup and called himself prissy. Realization arrived to her numbed brain. GK was gay. A non-issue to her, but still good to know. "It's nice," she said. "I had an old Barbie dreamhouse when I was a kid, but I took it apart looking for places to hide things in it." (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	veryperceptive 2011-03-25 07:19 pm UTC (link)
	"Thanks." A pause as he sheathes his cleaned swordstick and hangs it in its place behind the dollhouse. "Did you find any?" (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

zoe_torres
2011-03-26 06:20 am UTC (link)

"No, but calling it a dreamhouse was kind of silly. Whoever dreamed it up was on drugs." Zoe located the towels and headed for the shower.

If she was the squeamish type, the sight of her in the mirror would have made her scream. As it was, it got a sigh and thanks that Mom hadn't seen her like this. Her clothes would be bad enough.

Fifteen minutes later, every second of them needed to scrap and soap the dried gore from her hair and skin, she was out and back into her dirty clothes. At least she was as clean as she could be under then. Her hair was the next job to tackle as she tried to get the tangled mass under some sort of control. "Thanks, GK. Now Mom won't have a heart attack thinking some of that was mine."

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veryperceptive
2011-03-26 06:26 am UTC (link)

"Yes, well, the whole Barbie schtick is tacky as anything."

GK had taken the time to change out of his 'Sliver' clothes into something else. Not something clean. That just wouldn't do right now. But a shirt and jeans out of his dirty-laundry hamper. The bright red line across his now-clean face could wait. He couldn't put fresh makeup on it without risking severe infection.

"No problem. Best to prevent as much cardiac arrest as possible. Here, I've got some detangler." He grabbed a bottle of product and a comb. "May I?"

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	zoe_torres 2011-03-26 06:30 am UTC (link)
	She hesitated for a moment before nodding. "What do you do when you're not beating people with stick?" she asked, finding a spot to sit down. Oh great, the gay guy friend is going to get a really close look at her split ends because who had time to get them trimmed? (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

veryperceptive
2011-03-26 06:38 am UTC (link)

"I do makeup at the theater," He begins as he sprays the stuff on her hair and combs it out. "I put off starting college," Goodness gracious, he would talk her into letting him take her to the salon when they were less pressed for time, or at least giving it a basic cut himself. "And I go on dates with hot guys who turn out only to have agreed to it because they thought I was female," he adds sheepishly.

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	zoe_torres 2011-03-26 06:42 am UTC (link)
	"Seriously? Hot doesn't usually equal dumb, but I guess it could." She sat completely still while he worked. She could tell he was trying to go easy on her, but her hair had never given anybody a break in the cooperation department. "I've had a couple of dates where the guys thought the same thing about me until I broke somebody's hand." (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

veryperceptive
2011-03-26 06:53 am UTC (link)

GK continues resisting the urge to go all Alexander the Great on the Gordian knot.

"He really didn't mean any harm. Just... only saw and heard what he wanted to, I guess." More combing. And combing, doing his best not to just tear at it. "And yeah, I'd officially argue that putting hands where they can get broken might win in the dumb category -- you might want to consider olive oil. I don't have any on hand right now, but i hear it can do wonders."

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	zoe_torres 2011-03-26 06:56 am UTC (link)
	"I don't cook," she said. "Still. He didn't threaten you or anything, did he? When he found out you weren't a girl?" (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	veryperceptive 2011-03-26 07:06 am UTC (link)
	"Well, we'll find something that works for you. No, nothing nasty. We hadn't kissed yet or anything, so I was even spared any screaming grossed-outness. Just informed he was %100 straight. I probably should've figured it out from the start; not a lot of tough guys close to our age are queer, but I was kinda figuring I'd hit the jackpot." (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	zoe_torres 2011-03-26 07:10 am UTC (link)
	"I'm still not going to cook. I'm pretty horrible at it." He was speaking a different language that probably would have been understood by other girls her age, but nowhere in his sentence did the words blood, bad guy die or reload appear. "No tough guys in the theater?" (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	veryperceptive 2011-03-26 07:18 am UTC (link)
	"I'm not trying to make you cook. I'm suggesting supplementary conditioner." Pause. "Although cooking's not that hard if you give it a try. I make a mean pain perdu myself. Naw, the guys at the theater are way too old for me, except for the ones on the lighting crew, who all have girlfriends." (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	zoe_torres 2011-03-26 07:22 am UTC (link)
	"You mean put it in my hair? People do that?" (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	veryperceptive 2011-03-26 07:25 am UTC (link)
	"If they've got a certain texture of hair, and need results, yeah. Mine's not the right kind to for it, but it's one of several possibilities that could help yours." Pause. "Maybe we should just pull it back for now. The all clear'll be out soon, and then your mother'll expect us there." (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	zoe_torres 2011-03-26 07:30 am UTC (link)
	"You don't have to do if you don't want to." Zoe brushed a strand of hair from her forehead. "I can give her a story so you don't get interrogated about it. She can be pretty relentless unless you know how to cut her off." (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	veryperceptive 2011-03-26 07:36 am UTC (link)
	"...Well, if you're ashamed of me," GK faux-pouts. "I'd like to go, and I'd be happy to let you do all the talking." (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	zoe_torres 2011-03-26 07:38 am UTC (link)
	/That/ got an eyeroll. "She'll feed you. Take out because we're both pretty horrible when it comes to actual cooking. She'll even try to solve your problems." (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)