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and when you're gone, will they say your name?
and when you're gone, will they love you the same?
13 October 2009 @ 02:05 am
[canon] in which martel dies.
12 October 2009 @ 10:37 pm
[prompt] in loco parentis
11 October 2009 @ 05:04 pm
[log] if god is always watching over us, who's driving?
[16:47] * April keeps her hands clasped and stares at them, then at Martel - it's an interested, unthreatening kind of stare. "That's really cool. I mean - and you do this with everyone?"( if nobody is, that would explain some things. )
[16:48] * Jack nods courteously, "Pleased to meet you."
[16:48] Martel: "When I feel a pressing urge to be respectful, or charming," he says, coming up off his knees.
09 October 2009 @ 11:13 pm
[log] worth noting that i also have a lot of pictures of people who haven't been murdered
The first time the notion came up in any sort of seriousness was months ago, when Master Snape went missing (and later turned up, hale and hearty as ever - which is to say, not very). He'd had to go to Grif in order to find someone who could manage with this technological bullshit, and while ultimately it had still been pointless, the fact remained that it would be to Martel's benefit to have someone around who knew what in God's name they were doing around these things.
And has remained.
And remained.
And continued to be ignored.
And so on, and so forth - until the purchase of the house in Savannah was finalized, and then it became somewhat more necessary as well as practical. Martel found himself an enterprising young gentleman to keep track of whatever he needed keeping track of, paid him well and- has largely ignored him and his work. If we're honest. Ewar keeps better track of the dutiful weekly reports than Martel does, but Ewar enjoys responsibility (not to mention opportunities to learn) and Martel enjoys delegation (not to mention time for his priorities), so it works out neatly for all involved.
Speaking of those dutiful reports, though, this one is slightly more interesting.
He adds it to the assorted orders that become 'Ewar's problem' (tell him to find out who it was, will you?) and is not expecting much of interest to come of it when he gets back, a few days later, a name.
'Tom'.
"Oh, for God's sake," he mutters, faintly amused. It's a good thing he was on his way into the nexus already.
And has remained.
And remained.
And continued to be ignored.
And so on, and so forth - until the purchase of the house in Savannah was finalized, and then it became somewhat more necessary as well as practical. Martel found himself an enterprising young gentleman to keep track of whatever he needed keeping track of, paid him well and- has largely ignored him and his work. If we're honest. Ewar keeps better track of the dutiful weekly reports than Martel does, but Ewar enjoys responsibility (not to mention opportunities to learn) and Martel enjoys delegation (not to mention time for his priorities), so it works out neatly for all involved.
Speaking of those dutiful reports, though, this one is slightly more interesting.
He adds it to the assorted orders that become 'Ewar's problem' (tell him to find out who it was, will you?) and is not expecting much of interest to come of it when he gets back, a few days later, a name.
'Tom'.
"Oh, for God's sake," he mutters, faintly amused. It's a good thing he was on his way into the nexus already.
01 October 2009 @ 03:58 pm
[log] we talked about the subjectivity of morals
Every now and again the opportunity to show someone (show off) his library arises and one of these days Martel won't immediately leap on it, but presumably that day is not today. He spends part of the morning ensuring that he can have at least two days free next week and nothing on that can't be rescheduled at the last minute to make room for those - he didn't know Enfys very well, but she was important to Candice and so she was important to him - and much of the rest of it making himself conveniently available to his aforementioned wife if she should like his company.
(He cancels everything that'd take him away from home before the week after next, and decides it'd be inappropriate to go to Tryst without her; he'll get around to apologizing to Hasi for skipping that 'personal invitation' sooner or later.)
In the afternoon, as promised (or bizarrely alluded to) Ewar is dispatched to 'collect' one (1) Henry Jekyll from the nexus. The wards have to be adjusted slightly to let him in, and mostly this means that no one can actually go directly to the castle from the nexus; there's a carriage waiting outside the estate's boundaries, which Henry will find himself hustled into by the aforementioned friendly kilt-wearing swordmaster.
(They weren't sure if he can ride, you see.)
(He cancels everything that'd take him away from home before the week after next, and decides it'd be inappropriate to go to Tryst without her; he'll get around to apologizing to Hasi for skipping that 'personal invitation' sooner or later.)
In the afternoon, as promised (or bizarrely alluded to) Ewar is dispatched to 'collect' one (1) Henry Jekyll from the nexus. The wards have to be adjusted slightly to let him in, and mostly this means that no one can actually go directly to the castle from the nexus; there's a carriage waiting outside the estate's boundaries, which Henry will find himself hustled into by the aforementioned friendly kilt-wearing swordmaster.
(They weren't sure if he can ride, you see.)
28 September 2009 @ 02:31 am
[log] a stranger's just a friend you probably won't like
[00:10] Martel: "I thought you'd say that." As he told Hasi.
[00:11] Jekyll: "Am I so predictable?" ....yes. Grow an ego.
[00:11] Bruce: "Ah, it's all right, I don't... remember the number..." this is a lie, but he doesn't really like people having his in-Gotham numbers. (If you're surprised he's paranoid you haven't been paying attention.)
[00:11] Martel: "No, I'm just an excellent judge of character." He's also watching Bruce, mildly curious.
[00:12] Jekyll blinks at that a little, but he's had the same number since like 1998, so. "I suppose I can't fault you for that."
[00:12] Jekyll: To ...Martel. ALthough it could also apply to Bruce.
[00:15] Bruce goes to look inthe side room he was in earlier.
[00:16] Martel: "I had excellent training." He pauses. "You are sort of predictable, though."
( i like to call strangers in the middle of the night to whisper 'we know what you did. don't worry, you aren't alone.' )
11 September 2009 @ 01:09 am
[narrative] ambition took me speed of light to god's exclusion zone
The trip to England - and then onto France - was a good idea, Martel knows. Having spent the past year devoting himself to establishment, he's missed all the things about traveling that gave him the wanderlust he had as a younger man in the first place. It's good to get away from 48 hour work days for a while, to be a little out of reach, to be so good as to wear the clothes that Candice likes so damn much every day for a while as they travel together for the first time.
Selfishness aside, there's practicality to it as well; if he's supposed to be passed off as some 'Professor Lefevre', an English and French mix, then he probably ought to know something about the countries allegedly responsible for him. It's not tourism so much as learning by immersion, and after leaving Savannah shortly after Candice's parents did (they liked him, and he'd feel worse about having fallen back on old methods of manipulation if it hadn't worked so well - perhaps he could've won them over without that, they'll never know) it's what most of the past month has been devoted to.
This world is so exhausting and he's tired of it. The languages he picks up easily enough, but everything else - the culture, the tools, nothing is familiar. He wears the clothes well, but never quite cares for them; he is driven to distraction by this modern insistence on disarming. (Until he figures out how to hide knives from metal detectors and the like by means of glamour; an imperfect solution, but sufficient.) It's fascinating and he is fascinated, but he feels out of place and out of sorts.
He's thinking about taking photographs of Valdis when he first sees Amiens and forgets to think entirely.
Amiens is a thirteenth century high gothic cathedral, and for a moment Martel is somewhere else entirely so clearly that it hurts. He takes his sunglasses off (stupid things) and follows Candice up the steps to go inside, quiet just this once. When he slips away from her exploring to claim a seat in a back pew, he prays to a god who won't be listening in a world he knows is too far away to be heard.
He dislikes France a little less and a little more, all at once.
Selfishness aside, there's practicality to it as well; if he's supposed to be passed off as some 'Professor Lefevre', an English and French mix, then he probably ought to know something about the countries allegedly responsible for him. It's not tourism so much as learning by immersion, and after leaving Savannah shortly after Candice's parents did (they liked him, and he'd feel worse about having fallen back on old methods of manipulation if it hadn't worked so well - perhaps he could've won them over without that, they'll never know) it's what most of the past month has been devoted to.
This world is so exhausting and he's tired of it. The languages he picks up easily enough, but everything else - the culture, the tools, nothing is familiar. He wears the clothes well, but never quite cares for them; he is driven to distraction by this modern insistence on disarming. (Until he figures out how to hide knives from metal detectors and the like by means of glamour; an imperfect solution, but sufficient.) It's fascinating and he is fascinated, but he feels out of place and out of sorts.
He's thinking about taking photographs of Valdis when he first sees Amiens and forgets to think entirely.
Amiens is a thirteenth century high gothic cathedral, and for a moment Martel is somewhere else entirely so clearly that it hurts. He takes his sunglasses off (stupid things) and follows Candice up the steps to go inside, quiet just this once. When he slips away from her exploring to claim a seat in a back pew, he prays to a god who won't be listening in a world he knows is too far away to be heard.
He dislikes France a little less and a little more, all at once.
09 September 2009 @ 05:29 pm
[log] i'm contemplating thinking about thinking
[18:21] * Martel is technically 'on holiday' - the educational sort - so it's a little odd to need a break from that. And yet: here he is, taking a break. His hair's neatly braided back and he...doesn't look /uncomfortable/, per se, just as though he doesn't quite belong in a suit (jacket abandoned). The wine is fine, though.
[18:39] * Jekyll emerges from a door to the ...somewhere and looks around with the keenly interested eye of a person who has just found something they considered too good to possibly be true. "So it does work." He looks exactly like he was meant for the clothes he's wearing; clean if faded jeans, a grey button-down with the sleeves rolled up. "What a fantastic, if not completely insane proposition."
( (The Nexus, apparently. Really, is he wrong? No.) )
03 September 2009 @ 06:47 pm
[prompt] the limitations of regret
The phrase I would give anything to make this better is a fascinating one - I've certainly always thought so. What a grand demonstration, a suitably tortured self-flagellation, and in its way it absolves you from amends. No gestures grand enough, no sacrifice that will grant more than a hollow sort of satisfaction. How charming! How pointless, in the end. Would it make my brother feel better if I let him poison my wife, too? I doubt it. Shall we spill more blood, where we've already torn apart nations in an unfortunately literal sense?
(Zemoch, I aside, was no great loss.)
What great respect we have for the merchant in front of the church, ensuring that God and all his creatures know his piety, his generosity. How well we think of the man whose soul is so clean he'll cry to the heavens what's wrong with yours. And how suited to their ranks is the penitent most concerned with a witness to his guilt, the absolution of their pity.
All I have to offer is this: understanding, respect, and utmost patience. Forgiveness is neither a right nor a prize, and my reform doesn't carry with it a bounty. I give my time and the ability to keep my occasional idiocy to myself.
"Sir?"
Martel signed the letter and folded it in with the others. "Come in."
06 August 2009 @ 06:08 pm
[log] i wonder if it's possible to have a love affair that lasts forever
The house is taking some getting used to; it's one thing to drop in and out of universes like this (still a strange thought in and of itself), but it's quite another to have his name signed on a lease and a home full of his belongings. It is a home, too, albeit not the only one they share. It'd be an exercise in pointlessness if it weren't, and Martel has always loathed futility.
With the furniture where it belongs (until Ewar comes along behind the movers and shifts things to his satisfaction, which Martel's noticed him doing) and about as much unpacking as he's willing to deal with for the time being already done, Martel shoos Eirene out of the kitchen long enough for him to take Brody's picture out of the frame and tack it up to the front of their fridge. It remains slightly incongruous, but rather less so than it was hung up in a frame on his study wall.
That accomplished, he goes in search of his wife.
With the furniture where it belongs (until Ewar comes along behind the movers and shifts things to his satisfaction, which Martel's noticed him doing) and about as much unpacking as he's willing to deal with for the time being already done, Martel shoos Eirene out of the kitchen long enough for him to take Brody's picture out of the frame and tack it up to the front of their fridge. It remains slightly incongruous, but rather less so than it was hung up in a frame on his study wall.
That accomplished, he goes in search of his wife.
22 July 2009 @ 01:23 am
[prompt] if wishes were horses then beggars would ride
20 July 2009 @ 03:39 am
[prompt] that which cannot be taken back
10 July 2009 @ 07:35 pm
[ooc] mostly this meme reminded me why julian sands is the bane of my life
Journal:
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08 July 2009 @ 12:30 am
[log] walking, talking silk-wrapped razor blades
[21:51] * Brody is... back, now that he's had time to change--now wearing his jammies, Nightmare Before Christmas flannel bottoms and a Misfits hoodie. And make-up, because GOD FORBID someone see him without it. He is pale(r than normal) and tired(er than normal), sitting on a couch, staring at the bar.
[21:56] * Martel has spent less time around Stigmata lately (and there are reasons, one assumes); when he does arrive now, actually tidied up fit to his station, he's a little on edge. ...which he'll tuck away, upon spotting his company. "Hello, there."
[21:58] * Brody stirs, abruptly--he had zoned out for a moment there. He manages a sleepy smile. Sleepy, but he can't sleep, THANKS BODY. "Hey."
[21:59] Martel: "You ought to be sleeping, I see." Martel: responsible adult. ...responsible adult who is getting a drink, it's been one of those.
[22:01] Brody: "Don't start." He at least has a blanket, which he wraps around himself, with his bare toes sticking out under it. "I will get up and mother you to death." ... something in there sounds like it is missing an s.
[22:02] Martel: "If I'm remembering my mother rightly," Martel drawls, digging out a wine bottle, "then I promise you I'm getting married, we don't have time for children yet, and I have no idea what the difference between cream and off-white is."
[22:02] * Martel is lying about the last one, FYI.
[22:03] Brody: "But did you wash your teeth and brush behind your ears?" What.
[22:03] Martel: "You're thinking of nursemaids." ...welcome to the nobility.
[22:04] * Brody actually... tilts his head really far to the side, like a puzzled owl. "...really? People do that?"
[22:04] Martel: "You want to hear about my childhood?" Martel cocks his eyebrow, half-amused.
[22:06] Brody: "Probably not if it involved nursemaiding."
( [22:06] Martel: 'It wasn't very interesting.' )
01 July 2009 @ 07:07 pm
[ooc] this is a good idea :D
I've given my characters a healthy dose of Veritaserum and now they have to tell the truth. What does this mean for you? Ask my characters questions about anything and everything and they will truthfully answer it. So, go ahead and ask what you want. He can't beat around the bush with half-truths.
02 June 2009 @ 05:24 am
[prompt] take your fate upon yourself and bear it, its burden and its greatness
( I wanted to say two further things to you today: irony: Do not let yourself be governed by it, especially not in unproductive moments. In productive ones try to make use of it as one more means of seizing life. )
prompt: are you the gold standard or the black sheep?
09 May 2009 @ 05:41 pm
[log] i know i'm not forgiven but i hope that i'll be given some peace
After an...interesting encounter, it's dark where Martel is and late in Valdis, too. Two days, and he should go home; he will, soon. He has somewhere else to stop before he does, though, and after he starts to walk away from the fire he changes course to a place in the nexus that knows him from before he had the castle.
He rinses off the dust, the smoke, the ink and the sweat the best he can manage in a hurry; gaunt and still tired, but less hollowed out, and clean. He shaves, pulls his hair back and smoothes a new shirt as he leaves, only the barest twist of his lips to give any indication of his opinion of the damn pinpoints before he vanishes out of the nexus.
He rinses off the dust, the smoke, the ink and the sweat the best he can manage in a hurry; gaunt and still tired, but less hollowed out, and clean. He shaves, pulls his hair back and smoothes a new shirt as he leaves, only the barest twist of his lips to give any indication of his opinion of the damn pinpoints before he vanishes out of the nexus.
08 May 2009 @ 11:56 pm
[ooc] friday → the glossary of martel
08 May 2009 @ 10:01 pm
[narrative] you can't avoid the sentiment that echoes in your ear
The feeling in his chest is psychosomatic; Martel knows this, knows that he's long since healed, knows that the shadow of pain past will continue to plague him regardless. Perhaps he should've been born a Styric for this intensity of emotion in him, he doesn't really think, locking the tower's entrance behind him while the sun rises, disregarded, over Valdis.
It filters in through the high windows, falling on his ink-stained hands and colouring the parchment behind the glass it's too early in the morning for. A thousand things that need his attention - a meeting with Koleika this week, tomorrow's lessons, speaking with Candice about what they'll do for horses, coordinating plans for Brody's birthday (does he still have to get him a gift if he hosts...? yes, probably) - are forgotten to one side, lost a while with time he doesn't see passing.
Warning someone of his abrupt and total seclusion might've been a good idea. He paces instead, and lets himself be somewhere else.
It filters in through the high windows, falling on his ink-stained hands and colouring the parchment behind the glass it's too early in the morning for. A thousand things that need his attention - a meeting with Koleika this week, tomorrow's lessons, speaking with Candice about what they'll do for horses, coordinating plans for Brody's birthday (does he still have to get him a gift if he hosts...? yes, probably) - are forgotten to one side, lost a while with time he doesn't see passing.
Warning someone of his abrupt and total seclusion might've been a good idea. He paces instead, and lets himself be somewhere else.
06 May 2009 @ 12:57 am
[monday] idk about you guys i'm totally julius caesar.
How much of your own life do you put into your characters' lives? Do they share major experiences with you or fulfill your secret ambitions to be a Pirate Queen of Mars? Or have they gone through the things you fear the most? How about their background characters? Are they based on people you know, or are they ways of striking back at that one really nasty teacher from middle school?
( yeah i did this prompt mostly so i could use that subject line, what of it )
( yeah i did this prompt mostly so i could use that subject line, what of it )