Elle
Human
Architect, Author & Presenter
Suddenly my eyes are open, everything comes into focus.
Posts: 119
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Dulce
Nov 28, 2010 2:46:59 GMT
Post by Elle on Nov 28, 2010 2:46:59 GMT
It hadn't been so bad since she'd started ordering her groceries online so that she could intercept them when she was coming home from a trip, but that required a lot of co-ordination and forward planning and sometimes there just wasn't time for that. At least her freezer was full of vegetables, though coming home from an exhaustive schedule on a red eye flight to be greeted by frozen peas and sweet corn wasn't exactly the most comforting thing in the world. Obviously she needed to start freezing other things that might be a little more palatable when she was jetlagged and crumpled by her work.
"Well, thank you. I try, at least." Elle said, smiling. Thankfully she knew that Chris knew she took her heart transplant seriously so she didn't have to worry about seeming flippant about the whole thing as some people might think, it was just something that she had decided not to let dominate her life more than it had to, she took a logical, factual approach to talking about it as she did when it can to dealing with it in the day to day and that was that. She rested her elbows on the table, knitting her fingers together and leaning her chin on top of the steeple. "You get out sometimes though, right? When you're not working?"
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Chris
Human
LAPD Sergeant: Narcotics
And I won't let you drown when the water's pulling you in; I'll keep fighting, I'll keep fighting.
Posts: 407
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Dulce
Nov 28, 2010 3:04:07 GMT
Post by Chris on Nov 28, 2010 3:04:07 GMT
That was something Chris was going to have look into. It would go a long way towards ensuring his diet was a lot more varied than whether or not he should order Chinese, pizza or something else so generic. The problem was that a lot of the time when he got home from work it was either a ridiculous time of day -- or night, as the case so often was -- that he either suspected it was absurd to eat or he was just so exhausted that he collapsed on his bed and in those instances frequently fell asleep fully clothed. He genuinely had no idea if there was anything other than ice in his freezer. Perhaps the time had finally come for him to take stock of his kitchen and organise just what he was going to do about it.
Chris took his time with his beer, as was always the case. When he drank, which was only ever when he had company and -- when possible, obviously Elle was the exception -- he paced himself and took things slow. Growing up as he had had taught him that going too quickly could lead down dark paths that were impossible to retrace and he had absolutely no desire to lose his footing that way. He liked to think he was stronger than that but he wasn't at all eager to tempt fate. It was a common downfall for people in his line of work, too common it seemed sometimes. "We play poker once a week, me and the guys, and sometimes we go to a bar, but that's about it." Again he pulled a face, this time a little sheepish rather than the one he had shown at the mention of bad milk. "That's about it, really. That's bad, isn't it?"
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Elle
Human
Architect, Author & Presenter
Suddenly my eyes are open, everything comes into focus.
Posts: 119
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Dulce
Nov 28, 2010 3:19:49 GMT
Post by Elle on Nov 28, 2010 3:19:49 GMT
It was hard balancing a career that sucked out huge portions of times with simple things like buying groceries and then cooking them too, sometimes getting home and collapsing into bed was all that Elle could manage too; she'd get off the plane in the early afternoon, go home and find her body still in some other time zone and demanding sleep prompting her to shut the blackout blinds n her bedroom and crawl under the covers. It also meant eating at weird times of the night; at least they had that in common. Despite the problems it brought with it Elle did enjoy her stints of filming when they came, almost as much as she enjoyed it when they were over and she could go to bed when it was dark and not at midday.
"I'm definitely not judging," Elle said, lifting her chin to gesture with her fingers in a way that said as much before she set it down again lightly, she was smiling at him still. "It's a vicious cycle though, I mean I find I have to force myself to find the time to do things that get me out of the office, or out of my study at home even. Otherwise I would probably just go from desk to desk. It's easy to get stuck in that routine, I think."
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Chris
Human
LAPD Sergeant: Narcotics
And I won't let you drown when the water's pulling you in; I'll keep fighting, I'll keep fighting.
Posts: 407
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Dulce
Nov 28, 2010 3:32:49 GMT
Post by Chris on Nov 28, 2010 3:32:49 GMT
It was difficult to do much of anything outside of work when your committed your life to anything even remotely related to law in whatever capacity; it was extremely time-consuming and for many who entered into the field it tended to be mentally consuming on top of that, there was always something work-related on the mind and for those like Chris, the men and women who went out into the big, bad world they were trying to manage, it was all the more difficult to leave it behind at the end of the day. Chris had been haunted by cases, even ones that had worked out in the end, more than his fair share of times. As time went on it became even harder to disengage from the work, from the cases and the people. It should get easier, but it didn't. Not at all.
"I wouldn't blame you for judging," he said with a crooked sort of smile, taking a small mouthful of beer from the glass before setting it down again. "I'd love to have a set routine. I envy for you having one at all." Even if it did change every now and then depending on just what she was doing, whether it was writing, designing or filming. Chris didn't have any kind of routine set out from day to day, though he did organise what he needed to do at any given point in time; he had to or he would lose his mind, he suspected.
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Elle
Human
Architect, Author & Presenter
Suddenly my eyes are open, everything comes into focus.
Posts: 119
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Dulce
Nov 28, 2010 15:42:05 GMT
Post by Elle on Nov 28, 2010 15:42:05 GMT
At his assessment of her schedule Elle nodded lightly. "I'm lucky, my schedule is stable most of the time, plane tickets and meetings don't tend to be shifted around on me." Most of the time filming was on a strict schedule so there wasn't a lot of room for moving appointments and dates around unless the weather decided to get in the way for whatever reason, and when she was writing she was free to set her of timetable, she'd get into a routine of getting up the morning and writing for a few hours, often leaving herself afternoons free to get out of the house so she didn't become a complete recluse for weeks on end. By now the office took care of itself when she wasn't around too, she had a good, experienced, if small, staff and they handled their own projects and she handled hers, it was a good set up and when she was involved in a build she could come and go as she pleased which was a nice change from her internship of years gone by.
"Maybe you should just start small," Elle suggested after a moment of consideration. "You know, just plan one thing you want to do and stick to it as best you can?"
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Chris
Human
LAPD Sergeant: Narcotics
And I won't let you drown when the water's pulling you in; I'll keep fighting, I'll keep fighting.
Posts: 407
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Dulce
Nov 28, 2010 16:28:18 GMT
Post by Chris on Nov 28, 2010 16:28:18 GMT
Anything and everything could happen in Chris' line of work, especially for Chris himself; as a sergeant he was a high-ranking officer in the Los Angeles Police Department and in his specialised field of Narcotics, he was one of the go-to guys, so to speak. Many of the officers in his department came to him before going to Lewis if only in part to keep from disturbing the Captain with something that, ultimately, might not be all that important. Chris didn't mind, honestly he loved the responsibility and having younger men and women look up to him and respect him enough to ask him for his opinion or just for advice. Sometimes he wasn't all that approachable but he liked to be there for the people in his department. As much as possible he was there for them and then meant being willing to sacrifice your own quiet moments in order to help someone else. It was what his father would have done, and it felt right to Chris, so natural and how things ought to be.
"Like what?" he ventured, crossing his arms comfortably and casually on the tabletop in front of him, holding her gaze. "Like... actually having dinner every day?" The words were accompanied by a small smile. "That's one I definitely need help with." At least one or two nights a week saw him missing out on a meal because he didn't have time, he was just too tired, or it slipped his mind completely. Ridiculous, really, for a man his age to need help with something so simple, but it was just one of those things that crept up on you, or at least it was for Chris.
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Elle
Human
Architect, Author & Presenter
Suddenly my eyes are open, everything comes into focus.
Posts: 119
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Dulce
Nov 28, 2010 16:42:37 GMT
Post by Elle on Nov 28, 2010 16:42:37 GMT
"Missing regular meals, that's definitely a good starting point," Elle said. "I'll have to start dragging you out with me." Actually she was only partly joking with that, she definitely spent enough time sitting in restaurants alone during the course of a normal week, it would make a change for the better to have company occasionally, even if she was long past the stage of being in any way embarrassed about eating out alone. Sometimes being surrounded by people was what she needed anyway, even if she wasn't actually interacting with them, the quiet of her own house could seem so oppressive and she knew it was partly because she was frightened by the idea of being trapped there alone with the man who had driven her headlong off a road and into a heart attack, but it had left lingering impressions on her psyche. Élodie was only human after all.
Under the table she uncrossed and then re-crossed her legs in the opposite direction. "I mean something fun, though. You know, fun? That thing people have? You're a man you must like at least one kind of sport, or... golf or something. Those are the things you should try to make time for," again she smiled at him, lifting her drink with a clink of ice cubes and taking a sip. "Work to live, not live to work as they say." She paused, "Not that I don't admire your dedication to your job-- you know what I mean."
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Chris
Human
LAPD Sergeant: Narcotics
And I won't let you drown when the water's pulling you in; I'll keep fighting, I'll keep fighting.
Posts: 407
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Dulce
Nov 28, 2010 17:20:14 GMT
Post by Chris on Nov 28, 2010 17:20:14 GMT
"Hey, if you're paying..." Trailing off with a smirk that leaned towards cheeky, Chris uncrossed his arms and unconsciously straightened his class where he had set it down last; there was absolutely nothing wrong with its position but it was something he did without even realising it, he did it frequently at work in his office -- which had yet to be occupied by a second, replacement sergeant after his last partner had left -- while he was concentrating on something else, straightening or repositioning this or that, only ever moving things a fraction of an inch at most. The idea of having dinner with Elle a few times a week was in no way unpleasant to Chris, it would make a nice change to spending what evenings he had to himself alone or listening to Mark and Ray debating one thing or another pointless; Mark always won because he always thought his arguments through to the finish whereas Ray did not.
"And what, pray tell, would I do for fun? Go to the zoo?" Chris Tyler was not a man who could easily be imagined doing anything of the sort and for a moment he had to fight not to laugh at the mental image of himself at the zoo. She had presented other options, something sports-related. "I've never been all that big on sports. I wasn't even really into them as a kid." He'd played of course, either with what friends he'd had after school or during gym when the kids didn't really have a choice, but on his own time he didn't really pay much attention to them. "Don't tell the guys though, they think I like football."
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Elle
Human
Architect, Author & Presenter
Suddenly my eyes are open, everything comes into focus.
Posts: 119
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Dulce
Nov 28, 2010 18:40:34 GMT
Post by Elle on Nov 28, 2010 18:40:34 GMT
Invariably Elle ended talking about work, Hannah was probably her closest friend and she worked in production on the show in between her classes at law school -- a dramatic career change but one that came of a lifelong ambition the younger woman had nurtured secretly. They talked about other things of course, but usually they ended up on the subjects of buildings, law books or whatever was going on at the studio during any given week. It couldn't really be helped.
"You don't like the zoo? It's cute, they have koalas." Elle offered with a good-humoured smile, her eyebrows rising as if in complete shock that anyone could possibly not like the zoo. "Your secret's safe with me. I'm shocked though, I thought you might at least like basketball. I keep hearing good things about the Lakers' chances for the title this year." Elle nodded sagely, though her expression was slightly pained as if she didn't believe the hype completely; they'd had several years of underperformance and despite a great start to this season things looked to be going downhill. There you go Chris. Even Elle liked at least one form of sport, surprise.
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Chris
Human
LAPD Sergeant: Narcotics
And I won't let you drown when the water's pulling you in; I'll keep fighting, I'll keep fighting.
Posts: 407
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Dulce
Nov 28, 2010 18:47:45 GMT
Post by Chris on Nov 28, 2010 18:47:45 GMT
"I don't think I've been to the zoo since I was seven." That was probably right, as well. Maybe it was some time after that that he had last been, with his aunt, uncle and cousin, but the last time he could really remember was when he had been about seven and his father had treated the family to a day out at Central Park Zoo. It wasn't that he didn't like it, just that it wasn't something he could really picture himself doing nowadays. "Maybe we'll have to go sometime and you can show me what I've been missing all these years." He wouldn't put it past Elle to do just that, show up on his doorstep one day and declare, very matter-of-factly with that smile of hers on her face, that they were going to the zoo and he should bring his jacket just in case the weather turned.
"Don't get me wrong, if it's on and I'm just going back and forth in the apartment, I'll leave it on, but I don't really watch it and I certainly don't follow any of it." Chris had never much bought into any of the hype either, there were far more important things going on in the world than who might win what and why, who was getting paid ridiculous amounts of money for whatever and who had hurt themselves doing something ridiculous on the field or court. "Even when I'm with the guys, all I do is repeat what I've heard at the station. God knows how accurate any of it is."
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Elle
Human
Architect, Author & Presenter
Suddenly my eyes are open, everything comes into focus.
Posts: 119
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Dulce
Nov 29, 2010 20:33:38 GMT
Post by Elle on Nov 29, 2010 20:33:38 GMT
If anything the smile she aimed at him across the table should have been clue enough that sooner or later she was going to get him to the zoo and she had already made her mind up about it. "You should know better than to put ideas into my head by now," she added with a laugh.
After a brief pause to drink she bobbed her head in agreement. "My dad was really into basketball," Elle explained, even though Chris hadn't actually asked. "He and my mother argued about it constantly, she loathes anything remotely athletic, even having it on in the house was enough to get her going on about American sports, and I just can't resist rebelling." She grinned a little. Even though they were an ocean apart and had communicated sparsely over the years the younger woman still found herself riled by the idea of doing anything that she thought her mother might actually approve of, that would be tantamount to forgiving her for the last twenty years and even though the adult part of her brain, the sensible lobe knew that she really ought to just mend fences with Yvette, the emotional part of her that had been so badly hurt by her mother's abandonment couldn't let it go.
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Chris
Human
LAPD Sergeant: Narcotics
And I won't let you drown when the water's pulling you in; I'll keep fighting, I'll keep fighting.
Posts: 407
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Dulce
Nov 29, 2010 21:38:49 GMT
Post by Chris on Nov 29, 2010 21:38:49 GMT
How would they look walking through a zoo side by side, a pair of fully-grown adults with no kids in sight whatsoever, not even a group of school children to supervise? Chris had come to think of trips to the zoo as something for families or younger people to do, not that he was old exactly but he was a little past the point where he could do it recreationally, wasn't he? Elle didn't seem to think so, which gave him the impression that wasn't the case; maybe you were never too old.
Chris was trying to remember if his father had ever really been into sports and outside of the occasional trip to the batting cages along with his partner and the other man's son, he could recall nothing even remotely athletic. Presumably Duncan Tyler's life had already been energetic and hectic enough without watching men run back and forth across a field or a court. "I always knew you were trouble," Chris said with a gentle smile to soften the tease. Elle had never seemed remotely troublesome to Chris, not in the beginning and not recently when her stalker had come back into her life and she had called him to her house.
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Elle
Human
Architect, Author & Presenter
Suddenly my eyes are open, everything comes into focus.
Posts: 119
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Dulce
Nov 29, 2010 21:59:39 GMT
Post by Elle on Nov 29, 2010 21:59:39 GMT
It was more than likely that Elle was still a little childish at heart; she liked the zoo and roller coasters, she liked sitting with her feet in a fountain on the oppressively hot days of the summer and playing board games, and she didn't feel particularly bad about any of it. Age was a state of mind to her, not a number, though she was rather acutely aware as time went on how very much alone she was in some ways but she couldn't let that curb her enthusiasm for life.
"Oh, you have no idea," Elle confirmed light-heartedly.
At that point she glanced up, the waiter coming into view with a plate in each hand and a basket of bread balanced in the crux of his elbow. To make room she scooted back a little, bringing her arms off the table and whisking her napkin up from the tabletop with practised fluidity, giving it a shake with her wrist to unfold it before spreading it out on her skirt. "So what's new with you?" She asked when the plates were down and the waiter gone. "And don't say nothing, everybody says nothing."
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Chris
Human
LAPD Sergeant: Narcotics
And I won't let you drown when the water's pulling you in; I'll keep fighting, I'll keep fighting.
Posts: 407
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Dulce
Nov 29, 2010 22:40:54 GMT
Post by Chris on Nov 29, 2010 22:40:54 GMT
Weren't they all a little childish at heart at some points? Chris was sure he had his moments and who knew? Maybe if she did take him to the zoo -- when was more likely than if -- the kid in him would come back to the surface and he would remember how much he had enjoyed it when he was younger. There was no telling. He had always thought that he had left most of his childish tendencies behind at some point; he had had to grow up much sooner than he should have, after all, and all the regular thing kids should have been able to enjoy had either been cut out completely or at least somewhat tainted.
Chris smiled subtly at Elle's rather graceful shake of the napkin to unfold it, saying as he watched, "Show-off." He remained quiet after that until the waiter had finished and moved away, turning his attention back to Elle. "Damn, there goes my easy out." Chris' method of unfolding his napkin was a little less practised than Elle's and he took a moment to set it straight before he said, "No new partner yet but apparently they've got someone in mind. It's all a little mysterious which is either very exciting or extremely unsettling." With a shrug he looked across the table at her, smiling. "Does that count or do you need more?"
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Elle
Human
Architect, Author & Presenter
Suddenly my eyes are open, everything comes into focus.
Posts: 119
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Dulce
Nov 29, 2010 22:53:46 GMT
Post by Elle on Nov 29, 2010 22:53:46 GMT
Elle had narrowed her eyes at him playfully across the table at the napkin bit, she couldn't often help the occasionally French flair or flourish that came out, she'd spent ten years living in Paris after all. It was probably for that very reason that she had never been back there, she couldn't face returning to her own childhood in a way, too afraid of finding things changed, or of the ghosts of her memories to come back and grab her; the day they'd had a picnic, the bakery they'd gotten their pastries and breads from, all the little things she associated with her father and the ten happiest years of her life. It was all so distant now, her mother was welcomed to it, Elle didn't want to go back there. It would be different. There was no real going back.
"Hmmm, it's a start,” she answered his question. Apparently whether he liked it or not she intended to quiz him about what was going on in his life at present but it was only because she was genuinely curios; she had been keeping purposefully busy and hadn't had much of a chance to catch up with anyone in her life as a result, not even close friend like Hannah. "Which side are you coming down on at the moment, exciting or unnerving?"
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