paradisa | HAPPY NEW YEAR!

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HAPPY NEW YEAR!

All that clamor from the lion dance prancing down the halls should be enough to draw attention to the party, even without actual invitations. If not the noise, then perhaps the delicious smell wafting under every door and leading back to the ballroom.

The castle is vain, if nothing else. It has decorated the ballroom in the deepest red and brightest gold with auspicious greetings in the common language tastefully posted about the hall. May your happiness be without end, one says, while another goes May all your wishes be fulfilled. Small order, all things considered.

Round dining tables (with the turning glass part) are set up in the middle of the hall, each with about ten chairs and piles of food fit for a whole village. There are two more lion dance teams hopping about the hall and making a racket while occasionally nabbing that dumpling straight from your chopsticks. That should the least of your concerns, however, with many residents still aiming to settle their grudges before the new year.

Watch your back.

[ ooc; IC mingle log for Lunar New Year plot, feel free to make your own threads! ]

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[Tess leans one hip against the counter, picking up her whiskey glass in both hands just to steady herself. She takes a long sip, watching him over the rim. Sure, she knows about Cassie. Kid sounds worlds more tolerable than most of Joel's current roster, with the lack of language skills and all.

Her eyebrows lift a little. She assumes by "grabbing" he means "groping", because she knows it would take nothing short of that for Joel to want to smash in someone's teeth.]

Friends? That's disgusting, what the hell kind of guy friend is this? She seriously doesn't have a problem with that?

[Joel gestures with a hand in the air to indicate that he has no fucking clue how to interpret what happened.]

And he didn't look like no damn teenager to me, not even close. Not sure I wanna know what's going on there.

[A year, she'd said. Friends for a year. Yeah, he decides he's more comfortable not thinking about it for too long.]

[Ew. Tess is just repulsed.]

So someone around our age is pawing up teenagers. That is not right.

Are you going to talk to her about it, at least?

Younger than us. [He corrects, but with very little leeway in his tone.] Older than her.

[And then he shrugs. Cass is almost twenty and he's only known her for a short while. He's not sure he has the emotional capacity to babysit all of the older ones at Paradisa, despite Tess teasing him about each encounter.]

[Tess raises her eyebrows at that shrug. Younger than forty is still older than teenaged.]

Seriously, Joel? Does she even know how screwed up that sounds? Is she, uh...?

[A pointed look. She doesn't want to say "retarded" but she has no idea what else to call it. Either way, Tess figures it's a safe logical leap to assume that a young woman with stunted speech and childhood abuse of the raised-to-be-a-killer variety might be some degree of handicapped, or at the very least lacking in some sort of social awareness. Like how it's not appropriate for teenagers to be groped by adults who claim to be "friends."]

She wasn't happy with him, but that was about it.

[Knowing her background, knowing this has gone on for about a year, Joel is plenty uncomfortable. Sometimes it's easier to look away. He could talk to her about it, and he might, but that requires initiating conversation with a teenager about her sex life. One that seems to be pretty screwed up, from their point of view. Cass would hear him out; he knows her well enough by now to know that, but still.

So for that pointed look, he gives her one back. He knows what she's thinking.]

I dunno. Maybe I will.

[Tess takes a healthy swig of scotch. It burns nicely, unlike the mental image of Paradisa being a haven for pedophiles or something.]

What's the guy's name? So I can "accidentally" push him out a window if I cross paths with him.

[He joins her.]

Ezio. [Spoken like he's handing over the name for a hit-job, accordingly.] Think he's from the same place we got stuck in when we had our first "world change."

[He spoke with the same dialect, called him brother. Skin-crawling.]

[Tess doesn't even bother to mask her disgust. So he's like a dark-ages pedophile who probably has a daughter-wife or something.]

Well, you talk to Cassie and explain to her that her "friend" is only after one thing, and I'll make the guy disappear. That way, if she has a problem with it, that's fine, because I don't care if she dislikes me.

[At this rate, no one will understand why Joel is with a woman like her, but ah, well. Tess doesn't mind having enemies.]

[But this is why Joel likes her.

He rolls the dark liquid in his glass with a thoughtful stare, considering it. The more they talk about it, the more he's certain the guy's a fucking animal that deserves to be put down. Besides, what if he gets tired of older teens and decides he wants younger? Joel's expression darkens.]

Sounds like a plan.

[Oh, you two.]

Good.

[She sets down her now-empty glass and reaches out to put a hand on his forearm. She runs it up and down, gently petting, rumpling the fabric of his dress shirt. If the two of them weren't loosened up by alcohol, they'd probably both be rigid in tension.]

It'll be a good project for us.

[Keeping in mind that these are same people who got spooked by fireworks. Joel hums something indistinguishable and low when she rubs at his arm.]

Taking out somebody that nobody needs around.

[And again, what's one more?]

[She nods.]

Right. And someone said on the journals that when residents kill other residents, they don't come back... so we'd be getting rid of him for good.

[Joel remembers that journal post, one of the few ones he'd paid attention to. He sits down in a kitchen chair and tugs a little more at his shirt, loosening that stuffy and starchy feel as much as he can. A nervous tic. They're talking murder and his mind whirls back into that space it used to occupy when they lived in Boston.

It's not a turf war and he should probably be slowing this down, but men like that--]

Not just you, alone. [The plan needs adjusting. Joel gives her a look; not quite accusing, but almost. They have a history.] I'm your backup. Every time.

[Tess shadows him as he moves to the chair, ending up behind him, still standing. She puts her hands on his shoulders to massage, gently, just enough pressure to work out the knots in his muscles. He's had less of those these days –– chalk it up to peacetime and new mattresses and whatever you want, but life without sore shoulders is also a life less exciting.

Exciting? Is that even the right word?

She looks down at him, maybe a little dubiously. She doesn't like thinking he doubts her just because she fucked up last time they stepped out their front door with the intention of hunting someone down.]

I know you don't want to upset Cassie, so I wouldn't want you to come in on this just because of last time. But if you're sure...

[... then she won't stop him. Maybe she would have in the past, to prove a point about her own self-sufficiency, but she has to consciously remind herself to let him call the shots sometimes. The man's been through enough loss as it is without her being reckless.]

[It's not about doubting her, which he tries to communicate when he meets that look. She knows it too. They've had heated arguments over the same subject, too many of them. Joel usually loses out to exhaustion and the simple fact of life that he can't tell her what to do. Even when he wants to.

And you always brushed me off. If he'd known, he would've said it louder, sooner: fuck the guns, fuck the payment. But he's relaxed now, from some combination of the booze and her touch.

He's missed her touch a lot more than he's missed booze.]

Tess. [Voice a low rumble, he repeats himself.] I'm your backup.

[She runs her fingers firmly along his shoulders, in towards the slope of muscle along his neck, thumbs rubbing circles. He looks up at her, and she delays before replying –– god, she's never been able to gracefully walk away from an argument, let alone gracefully avoid one in the first place.

Tess knows he's not trying to handle her with kid gloves. Fuck, if he were anyone else, she'd deck him just for giving off that impression.]

No. [She looks down at him again, hands stilling for a moment. A correction:] You're my partner.

[Not even close to fighting words. He reaches up and behind the chair to touch back for it, at her arm.]

That's right. [He stays with her, is the point. Joel tilts his chin back and continues to look her straight in the eye.] I am.

[They'll never be 50-50, not completely, but this is close enough for him.]

Any projects you got, you keep me involved. Besides, what else have I got to do?

[Tess holds that gaze unflinching, and her hands still. She shifts her weight from one foot to the other, the top of his head just brushing against her ribs, and she absently thumbs the collar of his shirt.

Last time she brought up her projects they had an argument about pushing meth, but then again, she's also run out of notable irons in her fire. Her plans right now are still about recovery, about finding new projects.

Meanwhile, he does have other things to do: guitar lessons, hikes, horseback riding and so on with his girls. As long as it won't take too much time out of your tea parties with all the little orphans, she could say, but she doesn't. You have me to "do," she could joke, but she doesn't.

Instead, when she replies, it's with a nod.]

I'll let you know the minute something catches my eye.

[He's known her too long to not to catch onto when she's stifling something. Joel passes his hand down her arm from this angle, searching her eyes. If he watches her and he thinks on it, he can connect the dots.

What they've got in the Castle, it's different than what they had back home. Inevitably, they move along with these new circumstances. She's his partner, Tess is his partner -- in practical terms and in the business of reminding each other that they can still be human. There was a need for that back then and there still is now. They've gotten better at communicating in this new environment, as useless as that skill had been in the past.

Joel tugs her over, guiding her towards his lap.]

Something's buggin' you.

[Tess slides into his lap as if it had been her own idea, prompted only by his tug. She's quiet for a moment, instead preoccupying herself with slinging an arm around his neck and leaning her side against his chest, pausing briefly to press a brief kiss just above his temple, almost at his hairline. It buys her a few seconds.]

I'm still not used to sharing you, that's all.

[Joel wraps an arm around her waist and fiddles with some loose fabric, unused to the fancy textures and how clean everything feels. Everything, the clothes, the food, their lives. Clean.

A kiss against his forehead and an admission that causes him to blink twice. Ah, that's right. We put Ellie first, he'd told her when they first showed up, but he had no way of predicting Clem or protecting against the few other residents he's clicked with. Clean living can be a dangerous thing.]

And here I thought I've been gettin' too clingy. [A joke first, because he's sure clingier than before. His tone lowers to a murmur.] It helps, Tess.

[Shitty people. Caring for children makes Joel feel better, but he knows Tess isn't sold on the concept yet.]

[Sure, they've both been clingier –– just being able to live under the same roof has been different, and it's worked out well despite Tess's initial thought that she'd go insane from a lack of personal space within weeks. That'd never happened, and instead, six months later, she's still a little enlivened by the fact that after so many years, they're finally living together.

But there's been other people. Before, other people were for business only.

Tess just nods.]

I know it helps. It's just not really... me, I guess. I never imagined dealing with kids, not even any theoretical kid of my own. I never imagined you dealing with kids.

[She smooths the collar of his shirt, almost absent-mindedly.]

Turns out we don't know each other perfectly, huh?

[Most of the environmental factors that used to cause them to snap at each other and create distance have been neatly removed. Now all they have is a strange history and a gaggle of strays that Joel keeps picking up like it'll keep him from sinking to the bottom of this time-heap.

He gives a nod in return. Sits up straight, shifting her weight in his lap.]

Takes some adjusting. [Hum.] But we get to learn things about each other we never woulda known before.

[The romantic type.]

[Tess moves with him, feet right off the ground when she's sitting fully on his lap.]

Give and take. [She nods, too, and meets his eyes for a moment. She stops thumbing his collar.] As much as I miss work, it's nice. It's nice to know we go together even out of that hellhole.

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