039 x 930 // video/action

[dignity_misery]

[Hello, City, hello. Miss Carla is sitting inside a little cafe today, with a plate of cupcakes that look like this in front of her. One is peeled open and half-eaten. The rest of her little table is occupied by a sketch pad where something to this effect is slowly taking shape. If you're looking, you might notice this tattooed on the hand she's drawing with.]

How did you enjoy winding yourselves up yesterday?

[There's something a little wry to her voice in asking. She always feels like she has to wind herself up in the mornings, it was almost too funny seeing it acted out in reality.]

Comments

[worldofourown]

Out and about, I see.

[ He's glad. ]

[dignity_misery]

There was cake.

[Like that answers eeeverything.]

[worldofourown]

We all have our priorities.

[ Her appetite's intact. Marvelous. ]

[dignity_misery]

Did you manage to skip the clockwork curse, Karl?

[worldofourown]

Thankfully.

I've had about all the screwing and unscrewing I can stand.

Video

[trenchknives]

I was lucky enough to avoid it.

[dignity_misery]

They're giving you your arm back eventually, right?

Video

[dignity_misery]

Then you don't have anything useful to contribute to my question, do you.

[There's something light and teasing in her expression, eyebrows up as she carries on sketching.]

[skintoskin]

I didn't get wound up at all, so I'm fine, thanks. You?

[He leans closer to the screen, as if he'd be able to see much better.]

I'm not sure which is more disturbing: the cupcake or the drawing...

[dignity_misery]

No, I was fine. It was nice.

[Watching other people suffer, yep.]

You have a low tolerance for being disturbed.

[skintoskin]

Of course it was - for you.

[He has some awareness of her interests by now.]

Look, you've got a bleeding cupcake with a knife in it and a woman with no pupils who looks like she wants to bite someone. Neither of those is even remotely disturbing to... to people who aren't you?

Re: Video

[trenchknives]

Guess not, but how could I resist talkin' to you?

[dignity_misery]

It's a cupcake, and a drawing.

Re: Video

[dignity_misery]

You have a difficult time controlling your impulses?

Private

[worldofourown]

By the end of the month. [ He hesitates, ] It's strange. I can feel it there sometimes. The 'phantom limb.' It's why I had a prosthesis put in, back in my own world. [ But no matter how many times they'd adjusted it for him, how many physical therapy sessions he had, he'd hated it. It always felt wrong. ]

Private

[dignity_misery]

[She pauses. Setting her pencil down.]

That's awful, Karl.

[He's one of the few people she's ever had any empathy for.]

Private

[worldofourown]

[ Congratulations, Karl. You broke up the mood. ]

It's only a month. [ It's something he keeps reminding himself. A mantra in lieu of It's not so bad. He manages a wry smile. ] Ambidexterity is useful in times like these.

Private

[dignity_misery]

Is... how is your family?

[She really just means Diva, but she's... actually attempting not to be so blunt.]

Private

[worldofourown]

[ His expression recoalesces into something softer. ]

Far better than they'd be back home. [ With the exception of Solomon, they're all better off without Amshel's machinations or Saya's blood-feud. ]

Private

[dignity_misery]

Diva looked happy the other day, and your brother is settling in?

[She smiles back at him hesitantly.]

Good.

Private

[worldofourown]

[ He mirrors the smile, his own wider by a fraction. It's good to see something other than desolation or tears on her face. ]

She's happy, yes. She has what she wants. [ That's all that matters to him. ] Nathan can settle in anywhere. [ It's just Solomon he's concerned about. ]

...You got another tattoo, I see. [ To commemorate Rex's loss? ]

Private

[dignity_misery]

[She pulls the side of her shirt up to display the snake-head on her side. Get it over with, Karl.]

Two. [A wiggle of her hand.] This one only took an afternoon.

[She preferred it when they were worked on for several months.]

Private

[worldofourown]

[ He lifts an eyebrow. He wouldn't mind getting to see the snake, up close. The intricacy is fascinating. ]

Why a snake?

Are the demons and devils rubbing off on you that much?

Private

[dignity_misery]

It's one of the few animals I can get along with.

[Remember how all her pets died when she was a child? All of the warm blooded cute things her mother kept buying her?]

Why does everyone make this biblical? Religious nuts only make the news when their encampments are decimated by Reanimates.

Private

[worldofourown]

[ ....Now he wants to get her a pet snake and a demon-dog. ]

Force of habit. I did oversee a convent-school, you know. [ He smirks. ] The City needs more Jehovah's Witnesses, though. They're always the most entertaining to watch before you kill them.