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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Post by Chris on Dec 7, 2010 1:35:26 GMT
CONTINUED FROM: Restaurants etc; Dulce with Élodie.
During the drive the topic of organisation had been maintained, a couple of jokes tossed back and forth which was always something of an inevitability when it came down to the two spending time together. He had pointed out that a photographic memory didn't necessarily lead to excellent organisation, it just meant he had a knack for details and recalling specifics and he was just as likely as the next man to let something slip his mind; the problem was, he had told her, was that more often than not you had too much information in your head, and in something of a -- regrettably -- sombre addition to the conversation he had remarked that not all things that stuck were memories a person necessarily wanted. He hadn't said as much, but he remembered very well every single word those men had said when they had come to the door to give his mother the news about his father, and he remembered how many people had cried at the funeral, how many people he hadn't even recognised had consoled or approached him for one reason or another. There were memories he didn't want but couldn't just lose; it was a downside not many people considered.
"This is the place?" he asked once the hotel came into view after Elle had directed him down the last stretch. "I can see why they think it might be haunted. I believe the word I'm looking for is creepy." Parking the car nearby he quieted the engine and pulled the key from the ignition, palming the small bunch and glancing across to the passenger side. "And that's not a word I use all that often."
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Elle
Human
Architect, Author & Presenter
Suddenly my eyes are open, everything comes into focus.
Posts: 119
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Post by Elle on Mar 17, 2011 17:05:46 GMT
"This is the place," Elle confirmed, looking wistfully out of the windshield and at the hulking carcass of the building, half devoured by fire. "It looks much creepier from this side, I promise. Once we get in there you'll see what I mean about it having character."
This side, the one that faced out towards the street, was much more badly damaged by the fire that had closed the place down than the side that faced the ocean; beams and foundations were exposed to the elements and scraps of wallpaper flapped in a balmy breeze coming off the water and wrapping around the sides of the building like fingers teasing through hair. It certainly didn't seem charming from this angle, or like it had much potential to the untrained eye or, Elle suspected, to many trained eyes as most people she knew professionally would most likely have decided it would make more sense to knock the place down and start all over again. Certainly the profit margin would be larger that way, but that wasn't the whole reason Elle had taken this place on.
As she unbuckled her seat belt she turned to look at Chris across her shoulder with a playful grin. "And I'll protect you from the ghosts, don't worry."
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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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Post by Chris on Mar 18, 2011 16:20:12 GMT
It looked like a challenge, that was for sure. Chris couldn't even really imagine the amount of work that would have to go into a place like the wounded building sitting before them, it was one of the things that made Élodie's line of work so remarkable to him, so impressive and beyond his grasp really. What he did was relatively simple by comparison, dangerous as it was, though he had never really thought to say so. Élodie would contradict him -- and perhaps she would even be right because his job probably only seemed so simple to him compared to hers because he was so used to it, because it was something he had come to do almost automatically from day to day -- and shake her head and ask him why he thought what he did. It was better to think it and not share than enter into some sort of debate over something so silly at the end of the day.
Laughing to himself he climbed out of the car and swung his door closed, unconsciously straightening out the cuffs on his shirt and jacket before stepping around to the front of the car, his eyes on his companion. "You say that like I can't protect myself," he said, eyes narrowing a fraction as he smiled almost knowingly. "What are you trying to imply?"
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Elle
Human
Architect, Author & Presenter
Suddenly my eyes are open, everything comes into focus.
Posts: 119
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Post by Elle on Mar 18, 2011 16:27:30 GMT
In the end of the day Elle was in charge of making pretty, interesting buildings and Chris was in charge of saving people's lives and bringing criminals to justice and there was no real comparison there in her mind. It wasn't that she valued her job less or his job more when they were compared, they were too wildly different for that but she definitely thought his job deserved recognition and respect. In a way they almost spoke completely differentlanguages when it came to their jobs; Chris worked in a world of drug dealers and addicts and Elle worked in one of mathematics and artist impressions, but perhaps that was just as well, they always managed to find something to talk about or some nuance to explain.
Elle got out of the car too, bringing her purse with her as it held the all-important keys, along with the dessert bag she had picked up at the restaurant."How effective is your frown against a ghost?" she asked as she closed the door with a bump of her hip and the guiding help of her fingertips. "I'd certainly never imply that you might need a girl to save you from the bogeyman," she said, eyebrows rising as she walked over to the locked gate and started fishing her keys out of her purse.
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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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Post by Chris on Mar 18, 2011 16:44:23 GMT
That was why their friendship was so confusing to some people and he supposed possibly even interesting to others; by all rights they shouldn't have been able to find so much to talk about, shouldn't have had anything in common coming from such different walks of life and having such wildly different careers but they did find things to discuss, things that captivated the interests of both and they did have things in common. Elle had become someone very dear to Chris whether or not she realised it and even if he hadn't been expecting that when he'd walked into that hospital room after her accident he had come to realise that she was one of the people in his life that he simply couldn't really do without. Elle had, in her own way, become somewhat vital, as extreme as the word sounded.
"My frown?" He brought it to the surface as though giving it a chance to display its effectiveness, genuinely thoughtful for a moment before he allowed himself a hint of a smile. "I don't know about a frown but I can be pretty tough when I want to be. I have my moments." This was one of the things he liked the most about Elle, how at ease she made him feel, like he could just be himself and relax and unwind and not have to worry about a reputation or an image of any kind. It was a different world when he was in her company, he could be Christopher Tyler the man and not Sergeant Christopher Tyler the cop. He liked that.
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Elle
Human
Architect, Author & Presenter
Suddenly my eyes are open, everything comes into focus.
Posts: 119
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Post by Elle on Mar 18, 2011 16:52:03 GMT
Elodie laughed at the demonstration of his frown and then turned her eyes to the lock as she turned the key and it clunked open. She pushed the gate open enough for the both of them to be able to get through and then waiting for Chris to join her on the other side before she started to close it again.
"Oh, I don't doubt it," she assured him with a smile, jangling her keys in her hand. She lead him towards the construction office that was housed in a temporary cubicle, taking her heeled shoes off when she got to the bottom of the stairs that were made of painted blue iron grating (not a surface that lended itself to traversing in stilettos) and hopped up the steps. She unlocked the door at the top and flicked the light on so that she could get them both hard hats and so that she could put on a pair of more suitable shoes.
"Can you grab those sketches," she pointed to the raked table on the far side of the room. "I'll show you the initial plans when we're in there."
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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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Post by Chris on Mar 20, 2011 23:40:56 GMT
Following after Elle without hesitating or even thinking about it Chris looked around as they went, taking everything in out of habit and committing things to memory automatically. Chris was an observant man, he liked to be aware of his surroundings not only to feel secure about his safety and that of anyone else he might be with at any given time but because he had a healthy degree of curiosity like any man. The little details were picked up on and locked away for whenever they might be needed in the future but as soon as he was addressed by his companion his attention was instantly fixed on her once again.
"Sure." The indicated sketches were recovered and brought over to where Elle was standing busying herself and Chris made sure to give her enough space to move about as necessary. This was her territory and not his and as light and carefree as the evening was he understood that they had to take precautions and there were certain rules they needed to follow. Chris was more than willing to do what Elle said here and now, she knew what she was talking about and he had no reason to doubt her. "You're not worried about helmet hair?" he teased gently, indicating the hard hats with a smile as his eyes met hers.
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Elle
Human
Architect, Author & Presenter
Suddenly my eyes are open, everything comes into focus.
Posts: 119
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Post by Elle on Mar 21, 2011 15:20:26 GMT
She thanked him for picking up the sketches, hooking her fingers into a pair of boots she actually kept on-site in case she managed to leave the pair she kept in her house sitting in the space under her stairs, something that happened when she was running around doing half a dozen things. They were steel-toed but not lace-up and were scuffed on the toes and down the sides, having seen a fair amount of wear and tear, and Elle slipped them on easily, her dark evening dress looking slightly odd now, clunky tan footwear doing little to compliment the outfit. Not that she was bothered, her focus was on Chris and the hard hats. She reached up and pulled a couple down, handing one towards him to exchange for the sketches.
"Not as worried as I am about debris coming free and giving one or both of us concussion," she said. There was a serious undertone that went away when she continued on, with a grin, to say; "You look like you have helmet hair already anyway."
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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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Post by Chris on Mar 21, 2011 16:05:14 GMT
Somewhat predictable as the joke was Chris allowed himself a laugh, eyes narrowing as he shook his head. "A teasing remark about my hair? Low blow," he told her, pointing a finger her way if only for a second. "Concussions aren't that bad," he said, jumping back to the main topic as he accepted the hat, pausing with his gaze momentarily diverted. "Sometimes," he amended, shrugging just one shoulder as he did so. The words were spoken with the air of a man who had suffered his fair share and though most of them had been minor enough to ultimately ignore after a quick check up by a doctor there had been other instances when he hadn't been quite so lucky. He had barely been able to hold himself up in a sitting position after one particularly nasty crack to the skull.
"Are these shoes going to be okay going in there?" He glanced down at the footwear in question before lifting his eyes to hers once again. He was new to all of this and he was trusting to her and all her experience. This whole night was new to him really, he didn't date and didn't really have much of a social life at all as much as his friends tried to encourage him to change that for the better in their own words. "I can live with a concussion but a broken foot? Not so much."
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Elle
Human
Architect, Author & Presenter
Suddenly my eyes are open, everything comes into focus.
Posts: 119
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Post by Elle on Mar 21, 2011 17:42:42 GMT
"Don't worry too much, not all women actually like perfectly sculpted hair," Elle returned, laughing too. She was scooping her own short hair back so that she could put the hard hat one without loose strands falling into her eyes and preventing her from seeing what she was doing, the sketches set down on one of the chairs nearby. "You would know better than I would," she remarked about the concussions. "I once fell out of a horse drawn carriage in Paris and hit my head on the pavement hard enough to see stars but I was eight and I don't really remember it. Apart from the look of abject terror on my father's face." She smiled ruefully but not sadly, amused by the memory of the event and her late father's subsequent banning of most things to do with horse or carriages much to her mother's sourness.
Elle nodded and turned to open up a locker from the bottom of which she pulled a pair of boots that she approximated to be the right size for Chris. "Better to be safe than sorry," she said handing them to him. "They should fit."
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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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Post by Chris on Mar 22, 2011 0:35:33 GMT
Chris was curious how exactly Elle might have managed to fall out of a horse drawn carriage but instead of asking he offered her a gently amused smile as he shook his head. "Well for what it's worth I don't really remember what a serious concussion is like." It was a joke almost, albeit a poor one, and the slightly self-deprecating smile on his face showed that he knew it too. "So maybe it's a good thing I have the hat," he added, lifting it up a little for emphasis. It wouldn't be the best way to bring their evening to a close so he would wear the hard hat and go through the tour of the hotel playing by Elle's rules without a word of complaint.
After a glance at the boots he nodded his head and accepted them from her before looking around to locate a chair so he could sit down and take off his shoes. As he switched his footwear with the hat set to one side within reach he said to her, "Just so you know, this is turning into one of the strangest evenings I've had in a long time." He spoke with a faint smile on his face, angling his face up towards her so she could see that he didn't at all regret coming to the site with her.
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Elle
Human
Architect, Author & Presenter
Suddenly my eyes are open, everything comes into focus.
Posts: 119
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Post by Elle on Mar 26, 2011 20:15:49 GMT
Only the very beginnings of work had been started on the hotel which meant that it had been surveyed and the sections that truly could not be saved had been cordoned off; Elle had gone through half a dozen walk-arounds with various men in fluorescent jackets, clipboards in hand and plans under their arms and she knew the place like the back of her hand all ready. That didn't mean they could or would forgo safety though, just because she knew the building well didn't mean that it didn't have a few surprises for them in store.
"Oh, really? A strange night for a cop, I must be doing something right," Elle smiled at him, tilting her head to the side as he angled his face to see her, pleased that he really did seem genuinely pleased to be there. Elle trusted that he wouldn't have just agreed to come along for the sake of it, that he was fully capable of saying no. It was Chris, she knew full well he was capable of that. "I promise dinner doesn't always end with a visit to a construction site. This is a special occasion."
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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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Post by Chris on Mar 26, 2011 20:56:13 GMT
Chris returned the smile readily and even added a quiet laugh. "A special occasion?" he echoed, coming to his feet and dusting his hands off one on the other before reclaiming the hard hat she had given him. Most people went out to dinner followed by a few drinks and then went home again but Chris was a restless sort and this was far more interesting to him. It wasn't necessarily the stories about hauntings that interested him even but spending more time with Elle. Chris had a small number of friends but those he did have were important to him and Elle was unique in more ways than one. Chris' friends were usually men for one reason or another and so she was unique in that way and while the fact that she had come into his life through his work did not make her stand out among his small circle she was different from Mark for the simple reason that she had overcome a personal crisis and been through so many trials already, yet she had not stumbled or crumpled underneath the weight of them. Elle was a remarkable woman and there was no denying that.
"In that case I suppose I should feel blessed," he said, stepping closer and offering another smile. Turning the hat in his hands he glanced towards the door. "So be honest," he began, glancing her way again, "how many health and safety regulations are you breaking by taking me in there?" He sounded amused but there was also a sincere concern riding along underneath his words; he didn't want Elle to put anything at risk just to show him a few sights.
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Elle
Human
Architect, Author & Presenter
Suddenly my eyes are open, everything comes into focus.
Posts: 119
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Post by Elle on Mar 26, 2011 21:21:05 GMT
Even if they were down on a construction site where she spent a good deal of her time whether filming or working with her company, this was off the clock time for Elle too; she didn't have to think about deadlines or conference calls or supplies and schedules and she liked it. It gave her a chance to reconnect with what she really loved about her work, the magic behind buildings, the romance in things like handcrafted sconces and rooms that had been lived in by people decades before she was even born. It was less about the mathematical side of putting up walls and laying floors and more about the people and the lifetimes that were intrinsically woven into a placed like the half burned hotel that was beyond the temporary office they were standing in. That probably made Elle completely soft at heart, but she was okay with that. She only put on her business woman hat during office hours anyway, the rest of the time she wanted to have fun and that was honestly never easier than when she was spending time with Chris these days.
"That would be telling," she grinned and then gently cuffed him on the arm, and shook her head. "Only half a dozen. They don't exactly approve of people running around these places in the dark but I'm not going to take you into the dangerous parts of the hotel. And we'll have flashlights. Ultimately it's my property and I can do what I like with or on it." She raised an eyebrow at him, giving him a coyly charming smile. "Where's your sense of adventure?"
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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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Post by Chris on Mar 26, 2011 21:39:19 GMT
"My sense of adventure?" His brows lifted a little as he said that and he gave another light laugh. "Here I was thinking I got enough adventure in my day job." That was only partly true of course, he wasn't always on the streets chasing down suspects on foot with the prospect of a fight at the end of the pursuit, whether it be unarmed or with a gun in his hand, some days it was just hour after hour of sitting at his desk trying to tackle the mountain of paperwork that came with the job. Working in law enforcement wasn't as dramatic or glamorous as the countless TV shows made it out to be. Chris hadn't gotten into it for the thrill or the glory though, there was a real sense of purpose behind his devotion to his job, one that had been in his life for almost thirty years.
Glancing out of the window past the angle of the blinds dropped down over it Chris looked over the plot of land surrounding the old building and found himself wondering again how much a place like the hotel and the ground it sat upon had cost Elle. It wasn't polite to ask and so he wouldn't but that didn't really do much to combat his curiosity. "Do you want me to grab the flashlights?" he asked, turning his face to hers again, dragging his mind from matters of wealth and the financial security that came with it to put himself back in the moment.
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