all i can taste is champagne when it hits the brain like cocaine ( closed-ish )

[became]

CHARACTERS: neal caffrey + empathy link partners
LOCATION: all over the place, october 11- november 7th.
WARNINGS: tbd. potential blanket 'here be triggering shit' to start off safe.
SUMMARY: stage two and three links, to be back and forward-dated as needed.
NOTES: closed-ish, but if we haven't plotted a link yet and you'd like to my plotting post will be open the whole run.


[ individual starters below, separated by stage. ]

Comments

[jilt]

Very.

[ it costs irene nothing to admit that, to acknowledge another's beauty. kate had been beautiful and neal had loved her greatly, and this is a piece of him that irene draws into herself and holds tightly, never to be used as a weapon against him. ]

She loved you, and you loved her. It's more than most have in a lifetime.

[ irene includes herself in that estimate. ]

[became]

I ruined her life.

[ his smile goes bittersweet, a little self-mocking. ]

I didn't mean to, but I never do. She fell in love with someone I made up, broke up with her boyfriend for him and then I made sure she didn't have a road not with me— she wasn't like us, not before I got my hands on her.

[ it wasn't calculated, but in his excitement ( out of love, even if peter's slowly but surely introduced the idea that love isn't quite what he imagined it to be ) he made sure she'd never be anything but a criminal.

like him. ]

And then Adler killed her.

[jilt]

[ she doesn't drop his hand, but she reaches up with her free one, smoothing her fingers across his cheek, cupping his face in her palm. ]

It's what we do.

[ simply, not excusing him, but acknowledging it. how many men had irene led to a similar fate? but in her eyes, it's somehow better. he'd done it out of love. everything irene had done had been for her own gain. she hadn't mourned them. she still didn't. ]

Did you hate me, because of my last name?

[became]

Not for a moment.

[ and even if he knows peter would have a fit over this all ( he's always blamed kate too much, insisted neal could be someone other than the man he is if he tried hard enough, sacrificed enough to even the scales he set against himself ) neal can't help but appreciate irene's take more. no blame, but no lies about who he is and what he's done; somewhere between moz and peter, maybe. ]

You're Irene. [ as if that explains it all; and for neal, it does. ] I could never.

[jilt]

[ peter wouldn't understand. outsiders never do, don't know what it is to live like this. there are casualties, there always are, but that's the way of the world. so they were more honest about it. could they truly be faulted for their very nature? ]

I loved you from the very beginning.

[ did she need to tell him that? surely he already knew. they weren't the sort who needed such things spelled out. ]

It's a unique experience, loving someone so singularly.

[ apart from sherlock, apart from a certain affection for watson, apart from her counterpart, there were precious few who could claim irene's affections. ]

[became]

Lay down with me?

[ he sighs, eyes still closed. ]

I thought I'd try cutting back a little on the wine, it's made sleeping harder again. [ or: peter makes faces when he shows up anywhere obviously drunk ( or recovering from the same ) and it's easier to try and give it up to a certain degree than fight him on it. ( or he can't stand causing any more disappointment than he already has. six of one, half dozen of the other. ) ] I wouldn't mind the company in taking another pass at getting some rest.

[jilt]

[ he's a mess, unraveling before her eyes. it's more obvious if one knows where to look, and irene's always known where to look with neal. they're cut from the same cloth. irene knows how to spot the places where they wear thin. ]

Of course.

[ as if she would give another other answer. she's smaller than he, but she draws him down onto the bed with her, pulls him against her, lays his head on her chest so she can brush her fingers through his hair, indulgent as the wife she has never quite managed to be for any man. ]

Do you want me to sing for you? I don't think I have, in all the time we've known each other.

[became]

I'd love that, actually.

[ he does her the courtesy of not trying to lie ( like he does with peter, and the thought sits uncomfortably, but there's nothing to do for it ) and she returns the favor by not mentioning she knows the truth.

it's maybe not the attempt at normalcy everyone else seems to want, but using his weaknesses to bait sark leaves him raw more often than not; irene's acceptance soothes them, re-centers his ability to not care. ]

Something from Così fan tutte, if you're taking requests?

[jilt]

[ this entire affair is difficult for irene, to have so much of herself laid bare without her permission. he settles and she can breathe again, relax, and know that at least whatever he has seen, whatever he knows, it will be kept safe, and never turned against her as a weapon. ]

For you, always.

[ a discreet way of saying whatever he asked of her, she would do. that is what they are to each other, what he was allowed because of it. ]

You'll forgive me, if I'm a bit less than perfect. It's been a long time since the stage.

[ there's a moment, just irene taking a deep breath, running through the notes in her head before she begins to sing. it's not quite right without the accompaniment, but it's what she can offer him. ]

[became]

[ he takes her hand after, bringing it to his lips and kissing it. ]

It was better than perfect. You always are.

[ the words lack his usual polish, and he doesn't bother to try and turn on the charm; if she's forced to offer up things she doesn't want to, he can offer honesty in return. ]

I love you too, you know. A little more than myself, some days.

[jilt]

[ it's a very rare thing, the moments when they drop the polish, the smoke and mirror, the charm and wit. they aren't honest people, except with each other. there's something ironic about that. ]

I know you do.

[ there's a soft smile on her face, and she fusses with his collar, fingers brushing his throat. ]

You're very dear to me, Neal. More so than my husbands.

[ a private joke, because irene hadn't been fond of any of her husbands. she loved him, and that was why she only ever kissed him chastely. ]

[became]

I should hope so.

[ love's— complicated. kate was always half a mark, because she needed to be kept happy. not in a mercenary way; or not in a mercenary way until neal thinks back on it, the little ways el and peter interact and the way kate never knew what city he grew up in or his mother's name. mozzie has always been the closest thing to a spouse he has, all jokes aside, and that's never been anything but chaste.

it's easier to just love irene without complicating it by adding in the kind of cons being someone's lover always seems to require. ]

Did you see my parents? [ because it's the last piece of honesty he can offer, and because he's always had a problem trying to correct the past's mistakes long after the chance to do so is over. ]