domino_effect, posts by tag: duke - LiveJournal

[Continuation of Part 2 of Driving Songs.]

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Duke felt guilty for leaving Serenity and Jai alone together, but hopefully Jai would be able to make Serenity relax a little more. They were safe now, after all; if Steven had followed them, he definitely wouldn't think to look here.

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[Players: Serenity, Duke, Jai, Tristan, Joey
Summary: Part two of Driving Songs in which Serenity seeks out the help of her friends after returning to NYC.]

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Dukes voice, even thinned and made oddly small by distance and a recording was like a momentary letup in the rain; Maybe he's there, maybe he's just asleep, maybe he's-- “Duke, this is Serenity,” she said in a rush of misery. “I’m calling ‘cause I’m stuck—I know it’s late, early, whatever, but if you get this, pl—“

There was a click on the other end, a fumbling, muffled sound, and a sleepy voice. “Red?” Duke had, unfortunately, leaned against Trillian by accident when reaching for his cell phone, and the reflexive dig of her nails into his arm woke him up quicker than the ring of the phone had. He winced; she stretched and readjusted, then set about trying to fall asleep again. "You okay?" It was practically instinct to ask that question when someone called late at night.

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Part 1
Part 2

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"...The notes for the Millay settlement voucher thinger are on my desk, didn't think you wanted a phonebook's worth dropped on the corner of yours, and I was supposed to call Allison and Alicia but I didn't get quite that far today, so if they phone back tell 'em I love 'em." Joey took a drink from his Dr. Pepper bottle, running one hand back through his hair with stress, and rolled his eyes at the woman sitting at the desk he was currently sitting on. "Roberts will just hafta wait on negotiating out the court date; I just couldn't get them to talk sense today and it's a Friday so nobody wants to play nice, or full effort either, the fucks."

Rita beamed up at him, folding her hands neatly beneath her chin and smirking. "Says the man who's skiving off early."

"Hey! Mister Seto I Own The World Kaiba told me to! I follow orders, Ma'am."

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Part 1

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Cake's done, so now-- Serenity slipped back down the stairs again before she could catch anyone else's eye; Tristan had other things to take care of and there were still things to set up. She could handle them, the load of paper plates and so forth wasn't all that much-- well, she had thought it wasn't...

One return-trip back up the stairs later: Okay, and I've been wrong before. A bag slipped; hastily Serenity grabbed at it and climbed the last few steps to the landing.

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[The Players: joey_wheeler and serenityw; seto_kaiba_ and tristan_taylor_; aidan_mutou, duke_devlin, mai_lovely, mokuba_takeda, jai_bakura, and a host of NPC's.
The Scene: Joey's friends gather to celebrate his birthday at The Blue Smoke. Backdated to January 25, 2008
Notes: Despite its greatly-delayed posting date, this log was a gift and a half when its beginnings were delivered, as a complete surprise present, to Joey and myself on his birthday evening. Deep and true thanks to everyone who made this possible.]

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The initial phone conversation cautioned Tristan that - depending on the order - his order might be impossible given the unusually short deadline. With such a massive backlog of cakes (and most of Confetti Cakes clients had the forethought to book six months to a year in advance), if the order was too complex they might not be able to squeeze it in. Nevertheless, an in-person meeting was scheduled for early Tuesday morning.

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[Players: duke_devlin, tristan_taylor_, and Téa Gardener in her final appearance.]
[Scene: Three people walk into a bar. One ducks. Haha, get it? One ducks-- oh, all right. Actually, one leaves, one gets ridiculously awkward, the other shows off copious pet pictures, and everyone enjoys the evening off. Backdated to: Thursday, July 26, 2007]

***

Tristan stretched, humping his shoulders as he leaned back against the booth's padded seat. It was a nice night, and he felt like he'd done something vaguely naughty by coming to another bar to hang out. Duke called a few days ago to ask if he wanted to spend the evening with - of course - himself, and of all people, Téa Gardner. After the obvious surprise, Tristan accepted, and thus here he was, having a beer in a strange bar on a night off.

"I didn't know you guys knew each other!" Tristan said over the din, gesturing between his two companions with an incredulous smile.

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[Players: duke_devlin and serenityw.]
[Part 3 of Duke's visit to see Serenity.]

*

From fifty or sixty feet up, the fair looked altogether different than it had from, say, at the level where one was scraping off crap from one's shoes. Peaceful, really; so many people and animals, scurrying like ants but... distant, a part of the landscape as much as the rising smell of hamburgers and popcorn. It was easy to forget--

"Look, there's Hank's wagon!"

--easy to forget your place in it; easier to just be an onlooker, apart from--

"And I think that's Mrs. J down there, Duke, d'you see her? She's got Davey. Look, there's some sort've parade starting!"

--apart from everything, objective, aloof, serene--

"Is it just me, or have we been up here a long time?"

--right. Maybe not so serene, after all...

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[Players: duke_devlin and serenityw.]
[Part 2 of Duke's visit with Serenity in the less-than-serene hamlet of Ash Springs, Connecticut. Part 1 can be found here, to be followed by Part 3 shortly.


The Willimantic is not a large river. It meanders its way through a couple dozen miles of the Connecticut countryside, wandering from its narrow beginnings downhill to where it joins with the Natchaug to form the Shetucket. It's a lazy stream most of the time, with just enough whitewater here and there to ruffle the current; green-tawny and full of fish, it glitters beneath the August sun as if it had been beaten out of bronze.
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[Players: duke_devlin and serenityw.]
[The Scene: The long-awaited (well, by us, anyway) visit from Duke Devlin to the wilds of Connecticut and a certain stray New Yorker. Can rural America survive? County fairs, excellent advice, unusual transport and sheep-blocking, all neatly packaged inside one sunny summer day.
Part 1 of 3. Backdated to August 17-25, 2007.]

Sixth in a series of emails between Serenity Wheeler and Duke Devlin, dated August 17, 2007:

From: redwheeler1@gmail.com
To: ddevlin@world-of-nintendo.com
Attachment: ctmap.jpg

Duke-- the 25th sounds great! And wait 'til you see what's going on here in Ash Springs that weekend, we'll have a blast. Mrs. J wants to meet you, and I promised to drag you by Blackthorne's (if you don't mind) too. Tell Jai hi for me (I don't know if he'll even remember me, it's been almost a year after all); I'm glad he'll be looking after your pets, though he'd be welcome too. Oh yeah, and I'm attaching a map of how to get here just in case, okay? I know, mapquest and all, but they're not perfect.

*

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[ Players: duke_devlin and tristan_taylor_, featuring Tristan's Bengal Miw in a sultry cameo role.]
[Scene: The following is a transcript of an e-mail exchange spanning from Monday, April 23, to Thursday, April 26, 2007. Concerned about Miw's health, Tristan contacts the first person he thinks could answer his questions. Rated G for a lot of cat lady gabbing.]

*****

From: "Tristan Taylor" (callsign.hollywood@gmail.com)
To: "Duke Devlin" (ddevlin@world-of-nintendo.com)
Date: Monday, April 23, 2007
Time: 9:09 AM
Subject: Cat Question

Duke,

How do you tell if a cat's in heat? I don't know anything about cats, but either Miw's in heat or she's gone off the deep end. She's driving me NUTS. Did you have Zaph and Trill fixed? Miw's some sort of $$$ purebred with a pedigree long as your arm (I know, Ma Wheeler sent me like a three page photocopy) so I'm pretty sure she's not fixed.

Tristan

Attached: Slightly blurry photo (taken with Tristan's cell) of Miw on the floor

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