Jamie Moriarty (
notthewoman) wrote in
all_inclusive2015-03-09 12:18 pm
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"I was born good but had grown progressively worse every year."
She was not accustomed to genuine fear as she was not sure she was truly capable of it. Instead she felt varying emotions that usually accompanied fear in a gradient of severity. She was mildly confused by her newfound surroundings, but she was learning quickly and not drawing attention to herself in the meantime. Freedom for Jamie Moriarty had been inevitable, and this twist of fortune was not something to be rushed into. There was almost too much freedom here, but then she was also positive that it was entirely impossible for such a thing to exist. She was exactly where she was supposed to be, and now the only thing left to do was make the most of it.
The library of the Nexus was appealing to her in much the same way she enjoyed the gardens. She favored solitude for the contemplation of things, and the Nexus itself had been catalyst for much deep thought as of late. The door back to her world was present in her very own room, and she’d made the trip back and forth between her world and this one without any notice of the guards who were designated to watch her. They thought the blood loss had weakened her, and that fact was quite obvious. She still felt weak and breathless and a bit chilly, though she could force herself above those particular setbacks if she found herself in danger. Thankfully, the Nexus had yet to present anything of the sort.
She found herself in a section of what she recognized as ‘Classic’ American fiction, her fingers brushing along legible and clean book spines as she sought out something simple to read. Moriarty rarely indulged in fiction, she seldom had the patience for it, but she was feeling a bit of a fat cat these days, and wanted something with which to curl up in a spot of sunshine and allow her to present the image of someone entirely wrapped up in their book, while allowing her mind to turn over the possibilities of this place. Her fingers came to a stop on a thin volume, small and compact, bearing the title To Kill a Mockingbird. She knew the subject matter, of course, though she’d also never read it for herself, and that alone meant it matched all requirements she had at the moment.
She closed her fingers around the slim book and slid it free of its neighbors, turning away from the shelf in search of somewhere to sit.
The library of the Nexus was appealing to her in much the same way she enjoyed the gardens. She favored solitude for the contemplation of things, and the Nexus itself had been catalyst for much deep thought as of late. The door back to her world was present in her very own room, and she’d made the trip back and forth between her world and this one without any notice of the guards who were designated to watch her. They thought the blood loss had weakened her, and that fact was quite obvious. She still felt weak and breathless and a bit chilly, though she could force herself above those particular setbacks if she found herself in danger. Thankfully, the Nexus had yet to present anything of the sort.
She found herself in a section of what she recognized as ‘Classic’ American fiction, her fingers brushing along legible and clean book spines as she sought out something simple to read. Moriarty rarely indulged in fiction, she seldom had the patience for it, but she was feeling a bit of a fat cat these days, and wanted something with which to curl up in a spot of sunshine and allow her to present the image of someone entirely wrapped up in their book, while allowing her mind to turn over the possibilities of this place. Her fingers came to a stop on a thin volume, small and compact, bearing the title To Kill a Mockingbird. She knew the subject matter, of course, though she’d also never read it for herself, and that alone meant it matched all requirements she had at the moment.
She closed her fingers around the slim book and slid it free of its neighbors, turning away from the shelf in search of somewhere to sit.
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The bad, bleeding out through the good. The library, however, is sanctity because it affords him a task. No matter when he arrives, there are books to organize by shape and author and colour and subject. Today, he chooses topic, but comes to a halt when there is a beautiful young woman standing there.
Hal doesn't do well around beautiful young women.
They make him very, very hungry.
"Pardon me," he says calmly, with every inch of restraint he possesses. "Were you planning on lingering long?"
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To date there had only been one man who had managed that and lived, and he was not the man standing before her.
She was curious as to his motivation for asking whether or not she planned to linger, though just how curious she was could be up for debate. She sensed a sort of tension about him, but that was more common than many people would be inclined to believe so she didn’t chase that line of thought just yet. “Well,” she said in the rounded accent that managed to sound American without placing her upbringing in any solid geographical location, “I’d thought I might take this somewhere by the window to read.” She held the book up to him, then smiled a bit. “Why? Afraid I might stink up the place?”
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This is all so much easier when you've only a ghost and a werewolf to worry about, it truly is. "My routine involves organizing the books in this room," he explains, aware he can't explain why it's so critical that he does. "I'm not accustomed to company while I do it."
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“Well,” she said, appearing to think for a moment before her smile grew large and wide. “I promise I’m no chatter box. In fact, I’m quite certain you’ll forget I’m in the room,” she said as she brushed past him to head toward a chair by the window mostly for show, as she stopped and turned back to look at him after going only a few feet. “I won’t even look at you while you organize, since I’ll be reading. How’s that for unobtrusive?”
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He walks as far as possible from her and begins his organization of the books, paying no mind to the religious tomes and shelving them in one area with ease. These icons stopped working on him a very long time ago and now he looks at them as one would something curious. "Most people don't want the distraction of noise as they read," he notes evenly, his back to her.
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She continued over to a chair and settled into it, draping her legs over one arm as she opened the slim novel and began to read at an alarmingly rapid pace, a habit that did nothing at all to hinder her absorption of the words. “Mmm. Well, where I come from the world is rarely silent, so I suppose I’m used to it,” she said, instead of pointing out that most people didn’t show up at the library to arrange the books in whatever preference their compulsion required and expect all the other patrons to exit the premises, either. That would be a Moriarty thing, and Irene was sweeter. At least on the surface. “In fact, if you’d like to continue speaking to me, I wouldn’t mind at all. You have a lovely accent.”
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"I was in the United States for a time. California," he says. "I'm afraid I couldn't manage to stay very long." Nor did he wish to. He had been eager to get back to proper business, at the time, and the dog-fights were best run across the pond.
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"California? Is that what it is?" She asked, her voice very light and idle, the picture of innocence as she turned another page in her book. "I wouldn't have guessed that at all. Anyway, would it be more agreeable if I told you your voice was very lovely, whether you stayed long in California or not? Why didn't you, by the way? I've seen California. It's lovely, in pieces and parts."
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"Business matters," he explains, "back in London." He's succinct and precise in his explanation, knowing that further explanation will only open a very dark door to a hall full of things that demand answers and that he is not ready to give, especially not to a stranger. He could hardly bring himself to tell Annie of all his faults, both because of the guilt, but also because there is not the time to list all the sins he has committed.
"And I found the people disagreeable," he adds. To his stomach, he does not mention, but there had been quite the processed taste to them.
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She could picture this fellow in London, she thought, or somewhere else suitably old. She had no idea whether or not that assumption was correct, but when she built his world in his mind there was none of the hard lines one found in modern architecture shaping up around him. She glanced up from her book again and studied his back a moment more before saying, "well, I could see that. Depending upon what part of California you were in, I mean. I tend to find northern California more agreeable."
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He eyes her cautiously, noting the pace at which she reads. "What is your book about?" he questions curiously.
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“Lovely there, isn’t it? For the most part, I mean.” She tapped her finger on the spine of the book, feeling the worn edge of the leather before asking. “Was that very long ago, or--?”
His mention of her book brought her mind back around again, and she flipped the cover over to reveal the title to him. “It’s about racism in the first half of the twentieth century,” she said. “Told from the perspective of a child of a lawyer who is attempting to defend a black fellow accused of rape in Alabama. I never got around to reading it when I was younger but, well, it’s proving very earnest thus far. Haven’t you ever heard of it? It’s a staple in most high school English classes these days, but I missed that boat somehow.”
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He regards the book, thinking that Leo had spoken highly of it, though Pearl had been somewhat judgmental of the topic. "I'm afraid I've been somewhat sheltered recently from all manner of pop culture. I haven't been up to speed on my literature."
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“It’s good,” she said as she returned to her spot beside him, her gaze held steadily on the books on the shelf before her. “Well, thus far, anyway. It’s relatively short, so I suppose I should find something else to read after I’m done since I’d planned on spending a few hours in here.” She turned to look at him. “Do you have any suggestions? Or do you handle all these lovely old books without ever reading any, Mister…?”
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“Irene,” she countered, introducing herself in turn, and arching her brows slightly at the way he folded his hands behind his back instead of offering one to her. She had been in the library enough to memorize where everything was – it took little effort for her, really - but she still took another step closer to him, tipping her head back so that she could meet his gaze and smile sweetly. “Would you mind showing me to your absolute favorite?” She asked.
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He offers it out to her, two feet separating them (it's not enough to dull the intoxicating perfume drifting towards him), but he counts to ten in his head and thinks of domino pieces slotting into place. "I've always been rather keen on that one," he remarks, both for its content, but that Dante hadn't been a contemporary and thus, hadn't been ruined (like Shakespeare and Marlowe).
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That being said, she certainly wouldn’t turn her nose up at the chance of being a maestro of corruption for young (old) Hal, but it was certainly best to figure out where he was coming from before she tapped into her reservoir of religious knowledge in an attempt to gain leverage.
“Oh, I’ve heard of this one,” she said. “Mostly the Inferno bits, though. I’ve always thought I’d get around to reading it and decide which circle of hell I’d be most likely to wind up in.” She said it brightly and with a smile, making an obvious joke of it, though Jamie thought it a fortunate thing that it was in all likelihood that God didn’t exist. If there were such a thing as a higher power racking up all her malicious deeds, she’d no doubt spend an eternity or three on each of Dante’s nine blasted rings. “Now that I’ve said that out loud, I admit that sounds a little weird, huh?” She grinned crookedly up at him. “Have you ever done such a thing?”
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Hal belongs in all of them. He regards her without blinking or flinching as he thinks of Mr. Snow and the place he holds at the right hand of the devil, who had been there for the writing of this book and for the ascension of the man himself who created and enflamed such a religion. "I'm sure that my own judgment is bound to fall short," he answers, which is true. No matter how wicked he thinks he's been, he is sure that if there is a deity to welcome him to the lower pits of sulfur and hellfire, he will be sent to a new, lower level. He cannot imagine anything else.
"And which do you belong to?" he asks in turn, craning his head gracefully and smoothly to one side.
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“Oh, now don’t go selling yourself short, Mr. Yorke,” she said, crossing her arms beneath her breasts while still holding the book so that it lay heavy and cool along her side. “I’m sure you’re doing the library a grand service here by arranging these books as you are. Surely there’s some sort of spark of karmic goodness in that, or are you perhaps mussing them further by arranging them however you are? The Dewey Decimal System was invented for a reason, you know.”
At his question concerning which ring of hell she might belong in, she had to figure that by Dante’s standards even the ninth ring would be too gentle for her. “Malicious” was an apt word, though once again Moriarty found that to be some sort of flowery term for what she believed to be very natural instincts. She was born with the overwhelming desire to create and an equally powerful desire to break, and to do both in equal measure just seemed like balance to her. All the gentler instincts in the world such as love or kindness that were sometimes attributed to the presence of an omnipotent deity were simply a glitch in the system of all human beings, best she could tell. Even she herself was not entirely immune. “Oh, who’s to say?” She replied instead. “I believe Dante was partial to damning people to hell for things most people do nowadays. Is there a certain level of hell reserved for those of us that eat meat on Sundays or some such nonsense? I did enjoy a rather tasty burger just yesterday.”
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In lieu of them, however, he merely rubs his thumb along the engraved dots upon the domino in his pocket. "The books are arranged by whatever I choose. It's a routine, one to calm the mind and bring about zen." He doesn't feel inclined to mention that the calm is necessary so that he doesn't eat anyone.
Keeping away from reflective surfaces, now, Hal moves to the bookcase's edge, to start over again, this time by height.
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“I don’t know,” she said, uncrossing her arms and looking once more at the book in her hand as though the cover might reveal the answer she sought. “It is interesting, something I appreciate mostly for the vivid quality of his imagination, but I can’t say I’ve ever been a fan of anything that wants to damn me to eternal suffering for the smallest and most insignificant acts. And anyway, to ascend the rings of hell couldn’t be that much of a relief, right? They’re all torture of a different sort, best I can figure.”
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"Quite the heavy conversation, considering we've only just met," he notes.
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“It is a heavy subject, isn’t it?” She said as she propped one hip against the nearby bookshelf and let herself lean in against it. “We should speak of less intense things, I’ll agree with that. Perhaps you can show me to a hilarious volume of Mad Libs and we can discuss the pros and cons of certain adjectives, or you could perhaps tell me more about yourself. For instance, how long have you been at the Nexus?”
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"And you?"
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That could’ve been her recent incarceration talking, but that hardly mattered.
“You haven’t found your door home, then?” She asked. “Did you leave a woman or a man or a family behind?”
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"How do you mean?" She asked. "I just ask because I haven't explored many doors here yet. Are there many dangers?"
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"I shouldn't sway you from your decision, if you do wish to explore, but know that while some may seem paradise from afar, not all are."
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How utterly interesting.
"I hadn't heard of that," she said. "No one has really spoken to me much, so I'm afraid your my initial font of information." She smiled at him even as she noted the way he moved further away from her, as though she were a hot iron instead of a woman. "Your being very skittish, Hal," she said, opting to tease him. "I promise I'm not about to do anything untoward."
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Every now and then she came and tried to find books on different subjects. There was something dizzying about this library in that it was an amalgamation of different worlds; Sherlock would have a field day in here. She found two large books, both on horticulture, and then on a whim found herself drifting towards fiction. It would be nice to spice up her reading with something different, especially from a place she may have never heard of before.
What wasn't nice, in every sense of the word, was rounding the corner and discovering Moriarty - free of her shackles, so to speak, a copy of To Kill A Mockingbird held in a loose, relaxed hand. Joan was immediately on her guard. She knew there were cases of lookalikes in this hotel, but she was confident she'd know Moriarty anywhere.
"Interesting choice," she remarked. Had Moriarty followed her here? The next few minutes of the confrontation would tell her.
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Just then, with as busy healing as she was, she was happy enough for the downtime. The significant blood loss left her feeling weak, which was something she was surely not used to. She found she liked wasting hours in a comfortable chair in the library with something to read, and was so entirely focused on the discovery of her new novel that she did not hear the soft footsteps that moved up beside her. The voice that accompanied them was unmistakable to Moriarty, belonging to one of the two people in the world who she viewed as wholly other. Joan Watson was not like Sherlock or Moriarty herself, but seemed to be a singularity the likes of which brought Moriarty endless surprise. She was frightening in that way, but wonderful, too. Moriarty was forever torn between wanting to preserve the glory that was Joan Watson and the driven desire to watch her break into a thousand pieces under her heel.
“Joan,” she said, smiling and full of pleasure, not even bothering with pretending to be someone she was not. Joan would see through that, she was positive, as she had never been so easy to blindside as Sherlock. It was irritating, but refreshing, too. “Oh my, aren’t you looking lovely?”
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"I look about the same, probably," she said, and motioned to Moriarty's wrists. If Jame Moriarty was a normal person, then the way she handled her book would be a dead giveaway whether the cuts were fresh - but she wasn't, and if she was faking she would have faked that too. "You look a few cups lighter."
Her manner was not hostile, simply lacking in the friendliness which Joan wore as habit. She was simply cool, distantly polite. She had little love for a woman who had tormented so many people. There were worse individuals, of course, but they were not in front of her just then.
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She glanced down at her wrists as Joan spoke of them, lifting one up to examine it herself. There was a small spot of red in the middle, which was disheartening. She’d had to cut deep, but it was taking her body too long to heal, as far as Moriarty was concerned. “Oh, yes,” Moriarty said with a sigh. “An unfortunate repercussion of what I had to do to escape for a bit. I’m sure Sherlock told you all about that.” She smiled bright and sharp at Joan. “How is he? He tells me he’s well, but it’s near impossible to tell if he’s lying through penmanship alone.”
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"I can't pretend to accurately discount anything he's written to you," she said, politely. "You claim to know him so well, anyway. Maybe your estimations are better than mine."
Of course, she was reminded of the fact that she and Sherlock were definitely in a bit of a cool down period, and that was vaguely annoying. Still, she wouldn't hint at any of that. Moriarty already knew more about her personal affairs than she was comfortable with, thanks to Sherlock's correspondences.