Emilie Autumn
- In the Duggins -
Beware of escaped inmates
Posts: 90
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Post by Emilie Autumn on Feb 9, 2009 11:28:54 GMT -5
((HOMG I HAS AN EMILIE.))
Emilie, who had been busking across the street and would not have been very hard to find, chose this moment to burst into the Inn with her violin case hitting her in the hip, heading right into the direction of tables-and-waitress section because she had been up and playing for hours and was famished.
When she noticed Mulder, rather than getting drawn and suspicious as she had been the night before, she brightened up immediately and strut over in minutes.
"Cheerio," said Emilie in her half-English way, with the little rolled R, scooting into the seat and opening up her violin case to pull out the money she'd earned. Playing for money, when it was done successfully, put Emilie in a good mood. She patted her pink hair and began to count it, spreading it out along the table. "I am starved. Have you ordered yet? I was thinking waffles. D'you suppose they have waffles here? Waffles are nearly always divine. Even the little store-bought toaster ones - ever had those?"
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Post by Fox Mulder on Feb 9, 2009 12:11:35 GMT -5
Mulder's smile was instant and relieved upon seeing Emilie, and by the time he'd told himself to tone it down for her sake, he'd noted her own lack of reticence. She seemed a different creature from the night before. No longer furtive and smudged, she looked lively and open, her movements sure and expansive.
He'd already eaten, of course, but he was also Mulder, and could do so again. And it seemed rude to deny the good faith she'd offered him in the form of waffle appreciation.
"No," he said without hesitation. "I mean, yes, I've had them. No, I haven't ordered. I'd be surprised if the waffles here were from a freezer, though. Good morning?" He glanced at the money to indicate it was a question, not a greeting.
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Emilie Autumn
- In the Duggins -
Beware of escaped inmates
Posts: 90
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Post by Emilie Autumn on Feb 9, 2009 12:35:42 GMT -5
"By Mother Mary's drawers, by golly, yes," said Emilie right off the top of her head, keeping a few bills for herself so she could pay for her breakfast and putting the rest away. She looked very much like a businesswoman - albeit one with pink hair and a big striped dress on - as she moved her fingers along the edges of the bills to make sure they were in a perfect pile, even though they were going to fly into disorder once put back into the violin case.
She half-stood - as the table was positioned in such a way that she couldn't quite stand, bent into an S - and waved to the waitress in a way that, anywhere else, would have looked like a greeting, then sat down, and then adjusted so that she was sitting on her legs.
"How 'bout yours?"
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Post by Fox Mulder on Feb 9, 2009 12:47:12 GMT -5
"Hmm," Mulder said. "I'm not sure I'd say 'good.' 'Interesting' is more accurate." He wasn't sure how to tell her about Krycek. Or if he should. Not that she was stupid, she'd figure it out once the man came around to yack at him again, and know he hadn't informed her. On the one hand, it wasn't like they'd known each other long enough to keep each other informed of every move they made. On the other, Emilie's trust, once won, was precious to him.
Since she was here, and safe, and seemed in good spirits, he didn't want to say anything like, "I'm glad you're okay" or "still here" or anything that would imply he'd doubted such a possibility. He liked that she seemed to think this perfectly normal; it touched him, strangely, much more than if she'd sought him out immediately upon waking. It certainly implied more trust, both that he'd still be there and that she wanted him to be.
"Ran into an old friend," he was saying, as the ubiquitous waitress approached with something almost, but not quite as flippant as, a "traipse."
"What can I get you?" she asked, as if she was entirely unaware that Mulder had been sitting there for quite some time.
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Emilie Autumn
- In the Duggins -
Beware of escaped inmates
Posts: 90
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Post by Emilie Autumn on Feb 9, 2009 14:57:42 GMT -5
Emilie seemed to be in a particularly cheery mood, demonstrated by her upbeat use of random dialect or the slang of that dialect as soon as it entered her head.
"I want me some waffles," said Emilie, pointing her finger and tapping the tabletop with it, as though to point to where she wanted the plate, although this seemed sizably less demanding when one considered that she was sitting on her legs and seemed very much like a young kid. "With butter and syrup. And orange juice. Wait!" She called, before the waitress could walk away - and indeed, before she seemed prepared to. "Orange juice in a cup. Not on the waffles." She smiled brightly, then, as though she'd walked off, turned back to Mulder, even though she had not quite started to yet. It was as though the whole rest of the world was sped up and Emilie was operating on that speed.
"Ooooh?" She asked him, lifting one eyebrow. Then it struck her very suddenly that he was from the same century as she - more or less - only without the actually-living-in-the-19th problem, and therefore this was interesting news indeed, and she became much more serious in a moment. "Oh!" She unfolded her legs and sat more normally, which made her look quite a bit shorter. "Old old friend? As in...?" She made a wheel gesture with her hand, as though trying to draw the answer from him, and meaning 'from the 20th century?' when she spoke.
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Post by Fox Mulder on Feb 9, 2009 15:04:41 GMT -5
The waitress did not seem at all put out by this behavior, merely marked the order down, smiled wryly at the orange juice comment, and spun away without asking Mulder if he wanted anything. Which Mulder thought was rude, but not worth calling her on, as he didn't want anything.
"Not exactly a 'friend,'" Mulder corrected, a fine line appearing between his brows as he asked himself how the hell that word had made it past his lips in connection with Krycek. Or how his synapses had fired those two concepts together to begin with. "Someone I knew. Will know? Someone stuck back here, like us, but who recognized me as I recognized him." His brows pulled together further, despite the blandness of his voice. "He's not exactly a pleasant guy, but he doesn't have any more idea about why he's here than I do."
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Emilie Autumn
- In the Duggins -
Beware of escaped inmates
Posts: 90
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Post by Emilie Autumn on Feb 11, 2009 9:22:27 GMT -5
Emilie, good though she might have been, generally, with people, was thrown off by the incongruity of his tone of voice and the somewhat perplexed expression he made. Mulder might not have been entirely emotionless or expressionless, but he generally was difficult to read, and as she was not sure, then, whether or not he was cool with this person and just liked to speak disparagingly of him, or if he really genuinely had problems with him, she did not speak on it in either direction.
"Well... " she said, trying to find the good in this, "that's... good, right? That you know him. I mean, does that make you feel any saner? I wish there was someone I knew here, but I'm not sure I'd recognize them."
This made her wince slightly as though she had a headache, and she looked rather distinctly troubled and younger than she was for a moment, slumping her shoulders.
"In any case... Surely he'll be less annoying since he won't want you to leave him alone here, right?"
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Post by Fox Mulder on Feb 11, 2009 12:40:50 GMT -5
Emilie's lost expression served to put some perspective on the Krycek situation, and though Mulder's brow did not smooth, it was wrinkled for a new reason. And he felt guilty for putting any of this on her; he'd only meant his ambiguity to protect her, but he realized now that she needed concreteness.
"He did bring me breakfast," he said. "I suppose what I'm trying to tell you is that you're likely to meet him, and he can be very... charming..." Mulder puzzled over that word in his head "...but it's a good idea not to trust him implicitly." He didn't think Emilie was in danger of trusting anyone implicitly, but he'd experienced the sort of transference that might allow her to take Mulder's acquaintances in along with him.
With conscious effort, he cleared his expression and replaced it with a smile. Despite this effort, the smile was genuine. "It's good to see you," he said, meaning all sorts of things, not the least of which was that he was glad she was still around to be seen. The waitress came back, setting the plate and juice in front of Emilie and bringing him another cup of cocoa.
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Emilie Autumn
- In the Duggins -
Beware of escaped inmates
Posts: 90
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Post by Emilie Autumn on Mar 24, 2009 13:59:05 GMT -5
Emilie pulled her legs up into the booth she sat on, adjusting her posture a bit as she folded them Indian-stylishly and propped her elbows up on the table. Despite the casual position, she nonetheless conveyed a sense of absolute focus and contemplation - perfect attention, actually listening, which one might not get even in the properest of postures. This sort of thing was very common Emilie, who usually regressed to primary schooldays when she was paying someone any mind. But what could one expect from someone in her position, who most likely regressed to childhood frequently when faced with stress, used to living in an artificial world where the only grown-ups around treated her callously and did not see her as an adult?
Although confusion was still settled over her features, without her being quite conscious of it, she nodded at his words, trying to picture him in her head, but the contradictions of charming and friend of Mulder's and not to be trusted made all her stock images fuzzy, and she failed.
Her head cleared at the addition of Food, however, and she smiled at the waitress, vaguely looking quite hungry.
"Good to see you, too," said Emilie brightly to Mulder, also doubtless referring to several things, although in her case this was accidental and subconscious. "Say, when'd you order a cocoa?"
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Post by Fox Mulder on Mar 24, 2009 14:20:37 GMT -5
She reminded him, strikingly and not inappropriately, of a child, which was something Mulder was particularly susceptible to and continued to endear her to him. Much of this was, of course, unconscious, because even when Mulder was aware of his own hidden motivations it did nothing to curtail them. He could see her confusion, but wasn't sure how to lift it. It was Krycek, after all. Mulder wasn't much of a people person, but Krycek was a case unto himself.
He smiled and then looked down at the mug in front of him.
"I don't know," he said, vaguely puzzled. He looked back up at the waitress, who was chatting with someone else, but looked over at him and smiled absently before turning back to the other customer. He hoped she wasn't getting... ideas. "It's good, though." He took a sip, and found he did want cocoa, and decided that even if the waitress was fixating unhealthily on her patrons at least in this instance it was to his benefit. "Look, about Krycek; I know it's complicated. I don't really understand him myself. But until I know more about why we're here, he'll probably be sticking around."
That cleared up--to the extent that was possible--his expression cleared and resumed it's typical deadpan. "So. What did you have in mind for today?"
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Emilie Autumn
- In the Duggins -
Beware of escaped inmates
Posts: 90
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Post by Emilie Autumn on Mar 24, 2009 14:34:41 GMT -5
The sudden use of a name threw Emilie off, as he had not linked That Mysterious Old Friend to a name previously in this conversation. Emilie was more used to paying attention to people's speech than the average young woman would be, however, because the ability to manipulate speech and to interpret it was a survival skill in the asylum, and therefore she read into this that in Mulder's mind, it had not occurred to him that this person needed an introduction, and had doubtless thought of him as often as the words "I don't understand him myself" suggested. The nature, then, of their relationship was open to interpretation until she actually saw them together.
Her comment about his potential gay-ness from the previous night - she was surprised to realize that she did not know Mulder very well at all, in retrospect, though not surprised enough to stop eating her waffle and grow pale or concerned - came back to her and her nose wrinkled and her eyes shut suddenly and she laughed very raucously without having answered his question.
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Post by Fox Mulder on Mar 24, 2009 15:44:42 GMT -5
This, naturally, too Mulder by surprise. Far more so than any number of questions might have--he was used to those, and asked a good number of inappropriate ones himself. He just stared at her, his befuddled expression not much distant from the normal one.
Laughing was better than crying, in his opinion, where women and girls were concerned, but one was not necessarily safer than the other.
"Care to let me in on that one, or was it at my expense?" he said without any indication the latter prospect alarmed him.
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Emilie Autumn
- In the Duggins -
Beware of escaped inmates
Posts: 90
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Post by Emilie Autumn on Mar 24, 2009 16:43:53 GMT -5
Emilie recovered more because of hunger than a lack of hilarity, and shook her head merrily as she took another bite of waffle and washed it down with orange juice. While not appalling, her table manners left something to be desired in terms of ladylike Englishness, no matter how she liked to behave. But, again, learning from an etiquette book how to have good tea parties in an insane asylum does not amount to pretending not to be half-starved all the time, and she merely ate casually, as she might with a sibling or close friend in some saner, less-paranoid society.
"It was at your expense," said Emilie after she'd set the juice down, already cutting her next piece of waffle to eat, "but I'll tell you anyway. You sound like you're talking about your ex. There."
She continued eating, glancing up very quickly anyway to see Mulder's face, not that she was entirely certain a response would show on it - although seeing if it did or not would be just as intriguing, to her.
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Post by Fox Mulder on Mar 24, 2009 17:31:57 GMT -5
Surprise, disbelief, and insult all looked roughly the same on Mulder's face, though they passed quickly in that order through his mind. Krycek... he shuddered, figuratively (had Scully been there he'd have made sure to shudder actually, for her benefit) at the thought of engaging in... Dear god, there was no telling where that man had been. Oh, and, right, Mulder liked women.
But the expression that finally showed was a sort of amused chagrin, mild at that. His eyes crinkled a little bit and his mouth got a shade more wry. He wondered why people kept telling him he was gay, but he was a modern man, in touch with his own sexuality, and not threatened by it. Besides, what people usually meant was that you were hot enough for even a gay man to want you. That's how he interpreted it, anyway.
"He was my partner, once," he began, but he couldn't keep it up--he sputtered a little, laughing into his cocoa, and then looked up at Emilie. "FBI partner. When my--when Scully was abducted, he joined me, betrayed both of us, and defected entirely to the, er, dark side."
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Emilie Autumn
- In the Duggins -
Beware of escaped inmates
Posts: 90
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Post by Emilie Autumn on Mar 25, 2009 10:06:17 GMT -5
((ACH I LOVE THIS THREAD.))
If Mulder laughed into his cocoa, Emilie almost killed herself with laughing, accidentally breathing something she had been attempting to swallow and spending half of her time choking for that moment between when Mulder was speaking. The orange juice burned her throat slightly, but it helped, and even while drinking she could look over the glass rim and watch Mulder so as to give him her nearly-full attention as he continued on.
He did not seem to think before he spoke. The words abducted, betrayed and defected did not affect her very well. Emilie shrank back without realizing that was what she had done.
"Complicated?" Emilie repeated his description of Krycek from earlier, her voice sounding strangely high even to herself, although she hardly had the time to think about what her voice sounded like. Her heart was beating like a rabbit's. "That's not complicated. That's a lot more than complicated."
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