houseofcards_rp | Home is where the Hearts are

[The Green.

After so long, so much work returning to the Deck, he hated the very land for a moment.

It had landed him in the Green. Alone, in public view, in midday, amid a swath of empty grass. It was one last petty cruelty, he thought, for the Deck to display his shame in full public view. Even the very earth of his home betrayed him like this.

David had meant to sneak in, silent as a shadow, coming through the woods.To wander halls of all four castles, to be the ghost from people's nightmares brought to life. An avenging shade to feast on their guilt. These people, who didn't even have the decency to let him die with honor and instead left him to slowly rot as a vegetable in a hospital bed.

But no. He washed his hands of that. He would... not forgive. It was too big to forgive. He would accept the reality of his situation.

He returned because there was no where else he could imagine going, and because he would make them look him in the face - his pale, gaunt face - and understand that there were consequences to the choices the made.

They should have killed him.

He wished he thought that in anger.]

Fuck.

[Walking was really his only option here, leaving him wide open to anyone catching him out.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

She recognizes him from the back; she'd spent enough time avoiding David when he was king to know exactly what that looks like, thanks very much. And she stares for a moment before a stray thought occurs to her.

This does rather explain why Victor had disappeared off-Deck so suddenly. Katya had told her it was a meeting with a security liaison - but that was an explanation that could cover a multitude of different things.

Like the sudden appearance of the ex-King.

"Hello, David," she says seriously as she walks around him. He's not in the best of shape. Somehow that removes some of the threat. "Taking a walk around the Green?"

Zoe should be worried. Wounded animals were more likely to attack than not. And David wasn't really much more than a wounded animal, really.

Weren't most of the old Spades, once pushed out of their polish and manners?

"Ah, little accountant." He must assume that she handled the money for his little stay of Deck, which would put her squarely in the camp with everyone he already hated almost as much as himself.

But dirty, gaunt, and exhausted David still manages to make his address smoothly. "It seemed like such a lovely day, who could waste it?"

Little accountant has her raising her eyebrows - but not much, because David had always been somewhat...condescending. Of course, she hadn't had anything to with his confinement, not even the financing of it. That's why the miscellaneous line items existed.

As David was aware.

"No one, clearly," she says dryly, and tilts her head to one side. "Just you? Not Athena?" That had been the prevailing rumor, after all, that he'd followed his wife.

Well, other than one about how Julien had finally shanked him.

Condescension was his forte, he must admit.

"My dear wife and I appeared to have insurmountable differences." Such as him being in a coma. It's quite the deterrent to patching up a marriage.

"Ah. That's really too bad." She smiles a little, and it's possible there's not really an edge to it. Zoe has a sweet smile; it comes as naturally to her as condescension comes to David. Maybe more.

"I was sure after the jewelry shopping last fall that love was in the air again."

David is all edges these days. At least Briony would have appreciated it.

"Women. You know how it is." A blase shrug of one shoulder, and he turns slightly, hoping to escape of the Green instead of standing there and chatting. "Can't live with them, not allowed to murder them."

"Not really." Her tone is bland; she is, after all, a woman. Who is apparently not allowed to be murdered, which she hadn't actually been all that worried about.

"I think I've heard them say that about men, though."

Was that sass he heard? It started a real laugh out of him, some of the bitterness making room for real amusement.

It would seem Victor did have a reason for liking her.

"It seems to be a common opinion - we're all rather dense."

This was the young lady who'd breezed into a bar and asked Victor Fox to sing 'Mack the Knife.' She'd always had sass. She'd just figured the King of Spades would have preferred respect.

"Even you?" She asked, tipping her head to one side. "You rarely hear anyone admit it."

He pressed a hand to his heart, laughter on his face. "Would I lie to you, my dear?"

Him? never. That she should imply such a thing~

She raised an eyebrow, high into her forehead and under her bangs, and then suddenly she smiled at him blindingly.

"Oh, I'm sure you would never tell a single lie, David. Have a lovely afternoon."

"If I do, may the Deck strike me down," He grinned at her.

Oh, wait. It already had.

He could pretend tiredness causes his grin to be more like a baring of teeth.

"A lovely afternoon to you as well."

Home is where the Hearts are

Let's see how this goes. /o/

kjhsf\sd Zoe whyyyyy

she's a glutton for punishment

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject