Raleigh Harper / Emily Watkins (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
callmeemily) wrote2016-02-16 11:20 am
callmeemily) wrote2016-02-16 11:20 am
Entry tags:
CLOSED - Les (backdated 2/12)
Sure, Raleigh knew she was finally coming back to Siren Cove. Of course, she'd woken up this morning and kissed her mom on the cheek and reassured her that yes, she wanted to go home - it was still home, even after the last few months in Tennessee. She'd known she was coming back, but that didn't stop her from realising about three steps out of the taxi from the Portland airport that she'd done something really dumb.
She forgot her keys.
And it was about three degrees outside, with snow everywhere. "C'mon, buddy." Squinting in the snow, Raleigh didn't even try going to her place -- there wasn't a point with no keys. Her roller bag behind her, she made her way to Les's apartment. She'd gotten dropped off close by, and hey - she guessed that he'd be home.
Ringing the bell, she tugged her coat closer around her-- sure, she'd remembered her boots, but she'd forgotten her gloves so her hands were shoved as far in her pockets as she could manage, Oscar's leash around her wrist as she talked to no one in particular. "Please be home. Please?"
She forgot her keys.
And it was about three degrees outside, with snow everywhere. "C'mon, buddy." Squinting in the snow, Raleigh didn't even try going to her place -- there wasn't a point with no keys. Her roller bag behind her, she made her way to Les's apartment. She'd gotten dropped off close by, and hey - she guessed that he'd be home.
Ringing the bell, she tugged her coat closer around her-- sure, she'd remembered her boots, but she'd forgotten her gloves so her hands were shoved as far in her pockets as she could manage, Oscar's leash around her wrist as she talked to no one in particular. "Please be home. Please?"
no subject
"Are you suggesting that this place turning a wombat into a hot chick is more or less weird than a wombat understanding English? It feels like those are on equal levels of strange," Les says with a smirk. Because he didn't know if Ariel could understand him, but he knows for sure she was an actual human being for a week last year.
He just didn't know how to turn her back. If that even was a thing that could be done.
"Maybe she doesn't mind being this way. I give her everything she could possible want." He even made her a nice little habitat downstairs, and she really seems to like him. And human Ariel was kind of in love with him so she might not mind her situation.
no subject
Frowning, she actually had to think about it for a second. ".... I mean, I guess so? That seems weird. Do you think you'd want to be a wombat? Instead of a person? That seems....." Hesitating, she finally found what she was trying to say. "I guess... maybe she doesn't like the person she is?"
no subject
"No, I wouldn't want to be a wombat. I like being a witch," he says without needing to consider it. "But I mean---" He gestures vaguely as if Ariel were sitting there with them, but she's thankfully down in the basement. "Human Ariel was kind of like wombat Ariel if I'm honest with you," he says with a shrug.
Granted, Nerium's spell had given him false memories, letting him live an entirely different life, but it is still the truth. "This makes me sound a little obnoxious, but that's kind of why I liked her. She thought I was perfect, and she wanted to do anything I wanted to do. Kind of like now." He shrugs again. "She may just want to stay."
no subject
It wasn't like before she left when she said that Ariel was weird, and meant it in an insulting way. This was so much stranger than that, for one, but also she just doesn't tend to roll quite so.... insulting. At least, she tries not to. "I think Oscar's magical, so it's not like we don't both have weird pets." She says it fondly, still rubbing even though Oscar's blissed out on the floor.
no subject
"No offense taken," Les tells her, mostly pleased to be one of her favorite people because it's not as though he isn't aware of that but it's a title he thinks he deserves. He is quite happy to be her really weird but awesome friend, and that's why he's also happy to have her back in Siren Cove. She belongs here. There are others, not just Les, who have missed her.
He watches her rubbing Oscar's belly with a smile on his face. Then a moment comes where it is the right time to say something. "No one blamed you for what happened. I mean I understand why you thought you needed to leave but I can't say I was..." He trails off for a moment, as he's usually perfectly okay to just let things go. What happens happens, nothing you can do. Settling back in against the couch, he shrugs. "I was kind of pissed that you did."
no subject
She huffed out a breath. "I could barely handle it even without another thing. Just got too... mind-fucked, I guess. Gross term, but I have no idea what else to call it."
no subject
"I know. I'm not pissed now," Les assures her because as he said he understood why she left. His attitude was mostly selfish in that he didn't want his friends to just up and leave town. It reminded him too much of the past. Even with Corry, even though he knows she loves him, and knows she's always going to come back, he doesn't exactly like it when she jets off.
He reaches over and pats Oscar on the belly. "I do understand. I wish I could've done more. I should have. I know it can, but magic isn't suppose to hurt people," he says. "It's not supposed to mind-fuck people."
no subject
She leans back against the bottom of his couch, and looks at him for a long second. "You know, I thought about it a lot. Why people didn't notice, and then I realised-- like... if you just suddenly were acting different, I'd assume that there was something going on, not that you were having your soul sucked out by some weird witch lady. You know? Nobody's to blame except the witch."
no subject
He looks at her for a moment, quietly. He isn't sure why she thinks they didn't notice. They all noticed. He knew something was wrong with her, that she wouldn't just be acting that way without a reason towards him, towards Coop, towards all of them. They all knew she wasn't herself. He just wishes he had seen that it was magic making her act this way, and not some brand-new Raleigh that showed up one day.
"Of course, it's the witch's fault. When you were, not you, you asked me remember? Why I didn't just go around using magic to make money or doing whatever I wanted?" He shrugs a little. "Magic, it's yours. Whatever it is, you live with what you do."
no subject
"But... I mean, how would that be hard to live with? I mean, I get now why not to do it, but--" She pauses. "I don't even know why really the witch did that. The stuff with my dad, sure, but..." Trailing off, she shakes her head and rubs her arms with her hands. It still scares her, still freaks her out.
"Let's talk about something different."
no subject
But she's right, they should talk about something else. She's just returned back, and he's happy to see her.
"I'm glad you're back home," he tells her instead of responding to her questions. "I had no one to wave pastries under my nose while you were away. You know? I've basically been starving for a couple months. Don't I look it?" He asks with a smile.