houseofcards_rp | I Thought You Were Joking When You Said You'd Never Leave

Entry tags:

I Thought You Were Joking When You Said You'd Never Leave

Dissatisfied is an understatement. Argine is bound to hold on to her rank for as long as she's permitted to hold it, regardless of resultant detriment to the Suit. Tegan is gone. And regardless of how well-fitted for the job he may be, Pierre knows that Elisha would sooner see Eileen be both Ace and Jack than put him in that position that certainly needs to be filled. It doesn't matter how good he is at what he does at his King's command -- both on the record and off; as long as Elisha is in office, Pierre never will be higher than Ten.

So he's taking advantage of an extra opportunity to train both body and mind, working hand-to-hand with the best fighter he could reach on short notice. The man is smaller than him, but he's still fast and packs a hell if a punch. It's a hard workout for both of them. When the Six taps out so that he can shower and prepare for his shift, nothing has changed; there is no winner or loser, only two men drenched in their own seat, and Pierre's head is a but clearer. He's still frustrated, but it's under his control, even though he'll likely be snappish in response and barking commands rather than calmly delivering them today.

Posted via m.livejournal.com.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

You could hardly blame the man, really. Pierre didn't exactly project the Club values in any way, shape, or form. Unless you considered Alexander to the epitome of Club values; most didn't.

Briony wasn't entirely unsympathetic, really. Before Argine had constantly been ill, Briony had gotten suspicious looks from the Queen of Clubs herself. Particularly when she rose to Eight, but her rise to Nine apparently also didn't overly please the Queen, and she could only imagine the panic that would have ensued - in Argine's bedchamber only, in all likelihood - if Briony had challenged to Ten. Fortunately, she had no desire to be Queen.

Unfortunately, it seemed no one did.

She was at the Castle for the usual reason; pharmaceutical checks, the oversight was important as long as there wasn't a Castle physician, just to make sure all the t's were crossed and i's were dotted. Going past the training grounds and the Quartermaster's office was just a part of that, because she did like to keep an eye on the Sevens and Eights who might think Medea's daughter was a good notch. So when Pierre was snapping at a Five, Briony was right there, eyebrows rising up.

"That time of the month, Pierre?"

The lack of motivation to run this Suit was far from satisfactory for Pierre, and all he could do was seethe. His words would, likely, fall on deaf ears, so it was virtually pointless for him to say a word.

Of course, when the pharmacist spoke -- one of his favorite outcasts, really, considering her heritage, even despite the fact that she was six years his junior -- he turned his attention toward her, giving the Five a perfect opportunity to skitter out.

Wasn't she just a doll? "A very difficult time of month, unfortunately. Invariably, toward the middle of the month, it becomes a mystery how best to care for oneself, one's rooms, and one's equipment." Ask him how happy he was about that. Go on.

There was, then, equally no point in seething if he wasn't even going to bother saying anything about it. He couldn't hear the king's reasoning, after all, if he just sat back and pouted about it.

Briony's brows rose higher. "I was unaware their rooms were any of your business, since it doesn't affect their jobs."

He could be angry and perfectly justified in that anger without hearing Elisha's justifications. He wasn't trusted despite nineteen years of loyal service to this suit, and hearing his King out wouldn't change that. He'd likely go talk to him anyway when he returned, but for right now...just fuming.

"Your guess is as good as mine. But the point stands: inability reigns right now, and it's no time for it." And he was not in the mood to deal with it.

"How are you, though?"

He wasn't trusted because he was an asshole. Nothing wrong with being an asshole, but the Clubs were the wrong Suit if you wanted to get in with the Royals with that attitude. The Spades and Diamonds were the ones who rewarded that kind of attitude - and Pierre knew that. Briony didn't have to point it out.

Pierre just had to accept that he hadn't exactly tried to fit in over the last nineteen years - and if he thought he had, he was deluding himself.

Just like Briony knew that living in Club Castle would have been a recipe for constant suspicion and watchfulness - so she hadn't.

"I'm fine," she said instead of pointing out that this wasn't boot camp. "I terrified one of the Sevens during the storm, though."

Pierre had had Argine and Andrew to contend with, and Edgar before that. It made it difficult to blend in, even if he tried. He didn't come across as a crazy sadistic psychopath most of the time; that's more than enough.

If his presence in the Castle weren't so necessary for his work, he'd spend more time than he did in the house he rented in Town. This was sufficient for now, even if it frustrated him beyond reason sometimes.

Boot camp or not, sometimes the little boys and girls needed to be treated like they were new soldiers. "...How did you manage that, then?" Really, he was curious. Fascinated. Tell him more.

Briony is the daughter of the most vicious and infamous King and Queen of Spades to have come through the Deck in some time; the ones that were still used as boogeymen to make children be good. If Pierre thought that made it easy to blend in, he was delusional as well as sadistic - and the sadistic part was clear to most of the Suit.

"Juan Pedro Ramos Cordoval asked for a ride when I was running errands on my snowmobile." There was a slight shrug. "Apparently I drive too fast."

Of course it made it difficult for her to blend in -- and Pierre's father trained little ones to grow up to be Sean's little murderers, and Medea's too. So he felt her pain, quite literally. It's largely why he does like her: they're both children of very sadistic (and very dead) parents.

"...I do hope you laughed." Look at his face. This is his amused expression; if he were in the mood, he might even laugh.

"Of course I did. Cackled as I sped off." That's what you do, right? She smirks a little bit. "And then he offered to be my loveslave in the grocery store."

She really doesn't get Clubs. Or men. Male Clubs, at any rate.

He's not sure whether or not she's serious; it certainly sounds like something Mr. Ramos would do. But instead of saying it, he chuckles -- just a little bit. "And, knowing you, you refused him, didn't you. I'm sure he was crushed."

...Pierre is not a complicated man, Briony. Why don't you Get him?

She shrugs a shoulder. "I was bored, so I told him I'd let him know when the Queen of the Nile was going to make an appearance." It wasn't going to be this Halloween; her Heidi costume was set, beyond getting Chives to braid her hair.

"It's more fun to work up to the crushing."

She gets him; she doesn't get why he's surprised by his reputation when he's never really tried to make nice.

This isn't surprise. This is frustration with the fact that he apparently has to have been The Nice Guy in order to take a rank that he knows he can hold and serve his Suit well through. It's an annoying fact that he's simply going to have to accept -- but it's still annoying.

"That, I can certainly agree with, though I hope I'll be notified when that day comes so that I can enjoy the show." He means watching her crush the Spaniard, not watching her walk around dressed like Cleopatra. There is a difference.

Yeah, well. Welcome to life; maybe Briony has managed to be more cynical than Pierre. Then again, as horrible as Shea was, as terrible as Martine was, Medea wasn't actually Pierre's mother.

"Not for a while, I'm doing something cornier for Halloween this year." She waves a hand. "Heidi/German barmaid. It ought to get some dropped jaws." Somehow, half the Deck hadn't yet realized that Briony was a troll.

Shea and Medea may have been on friendly terms, but no. Medea didn't actually share any blood relation with him -- as far as he knows, anyway, and he'd like to never find out otherwise, in the case that he's wrong.

"I'm sure there will be more than jaws dropping, if you allow it." He's almost teasing. Almost. "I don't know, I think you'll have your personal trail of drooling gentlemen regardless of what you're wearing." It's a compliment. Take it.

She really doesn't want to find out about secret siblings. All of hers are dead, except one brother-in-law, and she's pretty used to that by now.

"You're mistaking me for Elani McCartney," she says. "Who gathers men like woodland creatures."

He doesn't want to find out about it, either. No investigations of that manner will be made, for that reason precisely.

"And you mistake yourself for an unappealing woman, Miss Williams." Aaaaand there's the closest thing to a smile that will ever touch Pierre's face. "It was a compliment, Briony. One can be attractive and intimidating simultaneously, can be desirable without having a doting harem." Not that he means to imply any of the above about her, of course. It's just a statement of fact.

She raises an eyebrow. "Attractive and intimidating? I don't know if the Deck can take both Athena and I at the same time, then." Maybe she'd go back to rehab, then. Athena that is.

Very calmly, Pierre says, "Then maybe only one of you should be around at any given time." It doesn't take a genius to know where his vote lies: stability over insanity any day of the week. Every day of the week.

It's almost as if only one of them is around now, anyway. There's been grumbling in the Hearts about how Athena's only around in name. "Maybe someone should see about that." Not her.

Probably.

Though she really wouldn't mind attending Athena's funeral.

She's not the only one who'd like to see Athena gone, though he's sure the reasons are very, very different. Still, he gives the most serious of nods, even while that satisfaction is still so evident on his face.

"Perhaps someone should." It won't be him, but. Maybe someone, and soon. "Would you rest easily then, Briony?" Safe in the knowledge that the Deck is one step closer to being balanced and Right.

What a beautiful, unrealistic fantasy.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I Thought You Were Joking When You Said You'd Never Leave

Elisha is in Morocco. So have a Nine.

Have a linefacey Ten, Briony.

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject