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]

[ 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. ]