Elle
Human
Architect, Author & Presenter
Suddenly my eyes are open, everything comes into focus.
Posts: 119
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Dulce
Dec 1, 2010 17:32:57 GMT
Post by Elle on Dec 1, 2010 17:32:57 GMT
On more than one occasion Elle had noticed that Chris couldn't let his hands be still, they were almost always occupied with something, car keys or his watch, whatever happened to be in reach most of the time it seemed, it made her smile briefly when he tore the bread up only to place it to one side.
"Of all the gin joints in all the towns, in all world," Elle quoted with a luminous smile to counter the faux staid expression he aimed at her across the table, quickly moving on to clarify what she meant. "The hotel. but if you want to hang out in the wreckage of the speakeasy that's fine by me, I'll enjoy the views on my own." Of course she was joking again, reaching for her own glass, putting on a haughty expression. If she hadn't been willing to take him around the hotel -- her hotel -- she wouldn't have suggested it to begin with, and she had no problem with showing it to him if he really wanted to see it.
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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
Dec 1, 2010 17:53:06 GMT
Post by Chris on Dec 1, 2010 17:53:06 GMT
Maybe that inability to let his hands be empty and unoccupied had led to Chris' becoming ambidextrous, he had always had to have something to keep them busy, even if it was just a newspaper he was browsing. The same could be said of his mind, there was always something going on, whether it was something work-related or something personal like now with his conversation with Elle. Chris liked to have something to do, and that had been the case for years now.
This was what he liked about spending time with Elle, it was comfortable and easy, it flowed naturally and he liked that he could be himself and let go of some of the weight for a while, act like he wasn't a cop with so much responsibility. "I'd like to see it," he told her with a smile, nodding his head. "I'm curious. Besides, I want to see if all those stories about being able to feel like a place is haunted are true." Maybe Chris was a little childish when it came to things like ghosts.
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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
Dec 1, 2010 18:10:33 GMT
Post by Elle on Dec 1, 2010 18:10:33 GMT
Undeniably she was pleased that he actually did want to see the place, she hadn't been able to convince Hannah to go, she thought it looked like the creepiest place on the planet and even in the face of Elle telling her she had no imagination and that the hotel was just a poor, abandoned old building she had essentially said she would rather spend a night in the Overlook Hotel from The Shining than set foot in Elle's 'creepy old, spook house." Charming. "Next thing I know you're going to suggest we camp out there and see if there's anything to see," she laughed lightly, her expression somewhat incredulous despite that. "I'll be so disappointed if it turns out to be an old caretaker in a mask, just a fair warning."
"I never pegged you as the superstitious type," she informed him after a moment, placing her cutlery down gently and liberating a roll from the basket as she addressed him.
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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
Dec 1, 2010 19:24:02 GMT
Post by Chris on Dec 1, 2010 19:24:02 GMT
At the end of the day it took more than a couple of ghost stories to scare Chris Tyler. He dealt with some of the most unsavoury characters -- men and women alike -- Los Angeles had to offer and that required him to be able to swallow whatever fears he might have at any given point in time. He wasn't even sure if he believed in ghosts; for all he knew they were just stories, word of mouth passed from one person to another, no substance whatsoever. If he could stand up against some of the worst criminals in the city then what was the threat of a ghost?
"Oh, I don't know about that." With his fork he shifted around the food remaining on his plate, momentarily distracted before he went on to say, "I'm not superstitious so much as I am curious. You can be one without the other. For all I know they're just stories, but if they're not, I want to know if you can feel the difference." His shoulders shrugged a little and he smiled calmly. "Besides, I want to see the kind of thing you start off with when you take on a restoration project." Reaching for his glass he added, "Curiosity again."
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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
Dec 1, 2010 21:56:07 GMT
Post by Elle on Dec 1, 2010 21:56:07 GMT
Elle by contrast was much more likely to let her imagination get away with her; too many scary movies and too many scary books could have her sleeping with the light on if she wasn't careful, but she still couldn't help that like many other people, she sort of liked behind scared a little bit which was why she liked haunted houses, ghost stories and roller coasters.
"Ah, you want all my trade secrets," Elle said knowingly, narrowing her eyes at him and gesturing with her fork. "In this case I'm starting with a lot of burnt wood and rotting wallpaper, but it's as good a place as any to set off from. I've worked on places a lot worse off over the years to be honest. But being curious-- that's a good thing. Honestly most people I eat out with find my work about as interesting as watching paint dry, and some of them think that's what I actually do."
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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
Dec 1, 2010 22:50:09 GMT
Post by Chris on Dec 1, 2010 22:50:09 GMT
Chris had most likely been desensitised to gore and all those jump-scares. Really, one way of putting it was to say that his life was tense and sometimes chilling enough to make those sorts of movies rather pointless for him, or at least unappealing. And yet here he was asking to visit the site of one of Elle's renovation projects because he was curious about the possibility of it being haunted. It seemed a little contradictory but this was real life whereas all those movies were fiction and Chris usually preferred the former to the latter. That wasn't to say he didn't watch movies, in this day and age it would be impossible to cut yourself off from media and Chris quite often left the TV on in the evenings if he was home in time to do that and awake enough to pay attention to any degree. Ray had once commented on how strange it was that he didn't have many movies in his apartment, but Chris had simply shrugged it off and that had been that.
"Watch paint dry?" The question was asked with a crooked smirk. "Now there's the dream." He didn't pause long before going on, "So how come you end up having dinner with all these people who aren't interested in your work?" Chris had been under the impression that many of the people she ate with in the evenings like this were either friends who had to have at least some polite interest or people individuals she met through her work, people who had to be connected to the industry somehow.
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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
Dec 1, 2010 23:05:46 GMT
Post by Elle on Dec 1, 2010 23:05:46 GMT
Movies tended to be something that Elle watched at home rather than going out to, she hadn't made the time to actually go and seen a new release for months now which was sort of ridiculous because by and large she enjoyed movies, and was actually something of an old movie fanatic, she'd seen more black and white movies than anything else most likely and the few DVDs she actually owned were of old movie classics like Casablanca and Top Hat. What could she really say? She was a sucker for those old romantic movies, Humphrey Bogart and Cary Grant.
"Oh, you know, outside of work. People who aren't project managers or executives or producers. I mean it's not like I date a lot, but-- well," Elle laughed, shaking her head. "I'm never letting Hannah set me up again for one thing, much to her disappointment I'm sure." pausing shortly to eat, she waved a hand dismissively. "I'm probably not being fair either, really, I wasn't exactly thrilled by all the lawyer talk."
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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
Dec 1, 2010 23:33:10 GMT
Post by Chris on Dec 1, 2010 23:33:10 GMT
At the end of the day Chris just didn't have time for movies. Even if he did have enough time for one at the end of a working day, he quite often didn't have the inclination to sit and watch one; he either had too much on his mind or he just wasn't in the mood to watch actors run back and forth across a screen. Occasionally he watched something with the guys but he rarely paid attention to the kinds of things Mark was likely to pick out, action-adventures that were almost laughable. Out of his three close male friends, Kevin had the best taste, Chris had always felt, and he had told him so, triggering a brief, almost disbelieving but hopeful smile; Kevin was the quietest out of the three and a little meek at times but he was a good man. He simply had the tendency to forget his friends thought highly of him, for some reason.
One eyebrow inched upward at the reference to dating, and he had an opportunity to tease her there but he let it go, let it slide right on by. He did pick up the conversation smoothly though, saying, "Yeah, there's a reason I never take Mark up on his offers for blind dates. It sounds like Mark and Hannah should meet, though." Mark would agree to a blind date himself but for some reason he rarely had luck with relationships. That was something they all had in common though, wasn't it? The difference was that Mark actually tried whereas Chris did not. It never even crossed his mind to try.
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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
Dec 2, 2010 0:02:00 GMT
Post by Elle on Dec 2, 2010 0:02:00 GMT
Strangely enough Elle actually found that sometimes putting a movie on in her office while she was sketching gave her a lot of inspiration. That was if the project called for it usually, she could take Art Deco ideas from this old Fred Astaire movie, or the arches from that one and sometimes it was easier to listen to chatter in the background than it was to have music on. It probably made her seem like a crazy old lady sometimes, though she was hardly elderly at thirty-five, but she did like to have a sense of sound in her house sometimes, the silence of living alone could be oppressive and that had been before any of the recent events in her life had turned on her more paranoid tendencies, like always leaving the porch light on and checking her locks three times. In the end of the day Elle supposed she had quite a few unhealthy worrisome ticks.
Elle laughed, unable to stop herself. "Oh my God, Mark tries to set you up on blind dates?" Actually she wasn't sure why it was such a funny image, but it really was and she had to cover her lips with her fingers as she suppressed her mirth, attempting to at least maintain some modicum of being ladylike. "Maybe they need a dose of their own medicine," she mused, "she might even let me be for five minutes if she has her own love life to focus on." Or maybe not.
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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
Dec 2, 2010 1:12:25 GMT
Post by Chris on Dec 2, 2010 1:12:25 GMT
When he got home from work, quite often Chris just liked to sit or lie in silence. After working in a busy -- often times hectic -- office for several hours on end or being out in the streets of Los Angeles, a little quiet made a big difference. He didn't get it at all in his professional life and sometimes he needed it, just had to shut everything out and try to let go for a little while but it was rare that he managed it; his apartment might be quiet but his mind was often reluctant to follow suit. Honestly it kept him awake some nights and a trait that was, during the day, highly useful, could prove to be a big hindrance instead, but he knew his father had been the same, mind always working on something, always busy. Chris liked that he was similar to his father in those ways, it was like Duncan Tyler lived on through him almost. It was something to hold on to in place of anything physical and tangible.
"Believe it or not." Chris' smile was a little pitying, almost, though it wasn't really clear why. "I think he gets bored. You know, in between all those big sales of his." Mark had the most money out of the group of friends without a doubt; as a real estate broker it was no surprise really, and he had a charm that buyers responded to and seemed to like, which worked in his favour. Why that didn't pay off in relationships, Chris had no idea and he didn't even want to ask. "I've never once taken him up on any of them but he keeps trying. It's almost like he's trying to tell me something." That wasn't the case, at least he hoped it wasn't, but there was no telling, and just like with Mark's inability to keep a relationship going, Chris didn't really want to know. "We should give it a try and see what happens. We might both get some peace and quiet."
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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
Dec 4, 2010 0:28:22 GMT
Post by Elle on Dec 4, 2010 0:28:22 GMT
"Or we'll create a monster," Elle commented with a suitably horrified expression at the idea of Hannah and Mark putting their heads together and starting some kind of match-making hybrid scheme. Then again maybe it was worth it, Hannah was a perpetual singleton though she went on about as many dates as she set up for other people, Elle guessed her slightly frenetic nature had men tearing their hair out; she was a production assistant by day and a law student by night so her free time was not only precious but also something of a whirlwind for whomever happened to be spending it with her. Elle had been in the receiving end of one of her visits more times than she could count, Hannah tore in like a tornado and out again just as fast.
Changing the topic again briefly, she gave him a conspiratorial smile. "About the hotel, we could go after dinner if you wanted? I mean we could wait until your next day off but I might be old and grey by then," she grinned. "Or the place will be finished. And if we're going to explore a haunted hotel it really ought to be at night."
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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
Dec 4, 2010 1:12:20 GMT
Post by Chris on Dec 4, 2010 1:12:20 GMT
It was easier to laugh when spending time with Elle than at any other point he had realised, but he wasn't about to complain about something that surely had to be positive. If nothing else it spoke volumes about Elle and how much she relaxed him, how comfortable and at ease she made him feel. At work there were few opportunities for laughter in a police station, it wasn't exactly the most suitable place for humour at the best of times. Here and now though it felt so easy and natural. It felt right and he was strangely grateful for that. The why didn't matter really. Just how or why it was Elle could make him feel the way she did wasn't important.
"You read my mind," he said to her, setting his fork aside in order to reach for his glass. He was approaching the point where he was comfortably full and could leave what remained on his plate without feeling like he was wasting it, and the beer in the glass was below the halfway line now. "I don't see why we couldn't go tonight if you're okay with that. So long as it's safe, I mean. We wouldn't be breaking any kind of regulations by going there at night alone or anything?"
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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
Dec 4, 2010 1:56:23 GMT
Post by Elle on Dec 4, 2010 1:56:23 GMT
Having so many friends from her work life meant that invariably she couldn't relax with them quite as well as she could with Chris, she was always thinking about something they were involved in, it wasn't really their fault, she was just as much to blame, it was difficult to switch her brain off from projects and even harder when she was surrounded by people who wanted to talk about it constantly because they were involved in it. Spending time with Chris allowed her to unwind in a different way, an easier way. It was sort of like a sanctuary from her normal, hectic life.
"Well," Elle said, she had picked up her drink and was gesturing with it slightly; similarly to Chris she was practically finished with her meal. "I'm got going to sue us for trespassing, I mean if I did I would technically win either way, but..." She trailed off. "Don't worry, you'll be in safe hands, I know my way around old buildings. It's structurally sound." She shrugged lightly, narrowing her eyes as if reconsidering her position on that point. "Mostly."
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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
Dec 4, 2010 2:23:35 GMT
Post by Chris on Dec 4, 2010 2:23:35 GMT
They could each separate themselves from their work lives when they spent time together. Elle could stop being an architect and Chris could stop being a cop. For Chris at least that was a huge relief, an escape he often forgot he needed. When he was with Elle, especially in moments like this, he wasn't a sergeant in the police force, he wasn't one of the senior officers in the Narcotics department, he was just a man out to dinner with a good friend enjoying comfortable conversation and good company. That was something anyone in his position needed, regardless of whether or not they acknowledged it, and Chris was infinitely grateful Elle could provide him with something that was, simply put, rather vital. Without those releases and escapes, the job could take over, and as committed as he was to his work, he didn't want it to become his life.
"But if I fall and break my legs, I can sue you?" Chris seemed amused by the idea, setting his glass down and briefly considering whether or not he actually wanted any more of the food on his plate. "I'll make sure to keep that in mind while we wander through the burned-out ruins of a condemned hotel that may or may not be haunted." It was easier to make jokes -- no matter how weak they might be -- with Elle, too. Normally that wasn't really his kind of thing when in the company of others; when with the guys he left it to the likes of Mark to whom it came naturally and there were plenty of people in the Narcotics department who were right at home in the humorous role.
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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
Dec 5, 2010 0:35:28 GMT
Post by Elle on Dec 5, 2010 0:35:28 GMT
At that Elle laughed again, shaking her head at his estimation of the place she was intending to take him too with great amusement and a ‘well, when you put it like that' sort of expression. "You can try. I have an amazing lawyer; she'd get me out of it in the blink of an eye." That was actually true, she did have a fantastic lawyer for her personal matters, and then a real estate lawyer whom she could consult about projects; Elle actually had a fairly substantial set of people for that sort of thing, she needed connections like that in her world to get along and deal with the any number of problems that building and design could throw into her path. Joking around with Chris was infinitely easier than it was with any number of those professional people she knew, but she had come to associate that with him. It was a Chris thing.
When the waiter came to check on how the meal was Elle gave him a suitably demure compliment before she went on to ask him for something called a chocolate molten lava cake, specifying that it was to go. When she looked back at Chris she grinned. "If we're going on a stake out for ghosts we'll need something to eat," she said innocently. "You're a cop, you should know that."
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