entrancelogs | [ OPEN ]

Entry tags:

[ OPEN ]

Who: Kurt Weller + YOU
Where: Around the mansion
When: June 17 and beyond
Rating: PG (I think)
Summary: Broken, haunted ~~emo~~ FBI agent dealing with his emotional baggage. Come say hi! Get drunk or train at the gym with him. Or insist he just relax a little and have some pie. XD
The Story:

b a r;

He's been in Wonderland for a few weeks now, but sleep still eludes him. So many people think of dreams as a chance to escape the realities of life, to be free. But his dreams are tainted with darkness, entrapping him in memories he's sure he'll spend the rest of his life reliving, over and over again. The ghosts come when he closes his eyes; all the people he couldn't save, all the families destroyed with two single words: I'm sorry. I'm sorry I couldn't save them. He's used the words so many times, he wonders if they hold any meaning for the people left behind to pick up the pieces from a lost life. He used to wonder, if he apologized enough times, would she come back - in that quiet place between dreams where Taylor's still alive? Would she know he meant it, that he would never let her go again?

He's discovered quickly enough that in Wonderland, there is all manner of magic. It's nothing that makes sense to him, it's nothing he can even believe most of the time, but it has its uses. He could ask for a pill to help him sleep, maybe. See if there's a doctor around here to help. Anything. But he won't. He'll live with the ghosts because in his dreams, he gets to see her again. Taylor.

Frustrated, he gives up trying to sleep and leaves the mansion around midnight, making his way outside. Kurt casts his eyes up to the sky, thinking how different and similar it looks at the same time. They made s'mores together under skies like this. They sang songs, they took shelter together in his tent when the sky unleashed a torrent of rain, muting the stars and the light from the moon until all that remained were shadows. She was scared of those moments, that absolute darkness, and the earth trembling with thunder. There was never anything to fear then, Kurt thought. The monsters that existed in this world were easily vanquished, or so his youthful mind thought. All he had to do was hold her and promise to protect her, and the monsters wouldn't dare come near them. He had no idea, of course, that the biggest monster to fear was his own father, that the best friend he cradled in his arms and swore to protect would one day be nothing more than a pile of bones buried beneath the earth by his own father.

He rubs a hand over his face, looking back down at his hands, clenching them together to stop them from shaking. There's no point in trying to sleep now, so he goes back inside, makes his way to the bar, and decides he'll spend the rest of the night tucked into a glass of liquor.

training gym;

The absence of a daily routine is unnerving to Kurt. It makes him restless and uneasy; not that he'll ever be comfortable in a place like this, but he's desperate for at least something that feels more normal, grounding like if he were at home. He's been told about the training gym, so he tries to get there often, finding comfort in the familiarity of it. He finds himself often at the punching bag, landing strike after strike, finding it almost meditative as he tries to unravel all the chaos in his mind.

around the mansion;

Kurt's not the type to openly socialize with anyone, though he tries to be friendly when approached. He's communicated with people through his phone-like device, and that's easier somehow than getting to know people in person. There's a barrier, it keeps him safe from getting close to people he's not fully sure he can trust. But he's met some people here who seem...decent, and with everything he's heard, the more allies he can find, the better. So he tries to get out of his room fairly often, and when he's not at the bar or the gym, he walks around, just getting a feel for the place and the people here. Nothing much seems to happen here between events, but he wants to keep an eye on things regardless.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

What. The. Hell.

He seems...harmless enough. Annoying and overly friendly, but harmless. For now. That doesn't mean Kurt wants to joke around, talk, or even help him. He's inclined to not even respond, and just make his way to the diner to grab some food. But there's something so innocent about the question that he stays rooted to the spot. He won't bother to ask about what time period and world he's from; wherever it is, they don't have these kinds of electronics, that much is clear. That's all he needs to know.

"What are you planning to watch when this gets hooked up?"

He says it like he's weighing this answer carefully, like there could be a wrong answer, something the man could say that would make him just leave. He'll probably go for some vague 'Everything/Anything' answer, but he's curious.

Not even a laugh or a sneer? "Tough crowd," he remarks of Kurt's blank-faced lack of response. Such a receptive audience! It brings a tear to the eye.

Although Anders seems content to put the improv comedy to bed, he isn't dissuaded. He's spent plenty of time around big, burly, broody men like Kurt who look like they could crack his head like a walnut with their arms if they got him in a headlock. The accusatory question, like Anders has been caught with his hand in the cookie jar already, reminds him a lot of those men, many of whom found him suspicious on sight.

It's almost like being home again.

"A disc with pictures on it?" He knows what Kurt's asking, but dodging questions is almost as natural as breathing to him after sitting through interrogations.

The guy reminds him - just a smidgen - of Patterson. He gets that he's being mostly flippant and fun, but it's not behavior Kurt typically engages in with complete strangers. He has to be more comfortable with someone, though he can easily dispense with dry or sarcastic remarks.

He's at least interested enough to see what this guy's about.

"Really." It's just a one-word statement, not even a question. "What made you think I'm the best guy for the job, anyway?"

Pretending to take the man's reply as an expression of mutual interest, Anders nods. "Really. I thought it was a riot, too. Amazing what technology is capable of, no?"

The truth is that after sitting through an afternoon of Alphys' anime marathon and watching the colorful cartoons play out, he'd been curious about giving her other anime recommendations a shot. Would Kurt be more or less likely to back away slowly if he knew some of the titles on Anders' to-watch list include Mew Mew Kissy Cutie and Sailor Moon?

"Would you believe me if I say your smiling face is what drew me in?" he says to the man who looks like he reserves smiling for every other day between the hours of 2:00 and 4:00 PM. "Honestly, you walked by. That's good enough for me. I'd feel badly if I broke the equipment fiddling around with it--if you know someone who can spare some time, I'll ask them."

No. No, this guy definitely isn't Patterson. He's Rich Dot Com. At least he hasn't come up with a nickname for him quite like angry little munchkin. As for the anime films - Kurt would probably think those titles couldn't possibly be real, and he'd want to pretend they honestly weren't.

Considering he wasn't smiling and has no reason to smile now, it's clear the other man is messing with him. Again. Internally, he actually is amused but given that it's not his scheduled day and time to smile, his face remains mostly impassive. Maybe one day Anders will break through and pull a smile out of him.

He's really not in the mood. He's not. Yet there's something about the man that makes him curious enough just to stick around and get a better feel for him. Maybe it's just that he's so...odd. Quirky. "I can handle it," Kurt confirms. "Lead the way."

Fast-talking, silver-tongued, shameless escape artists? Kurt doesn't know just how right he is.

Instead of Rich's brand of booze, drugs, sex, and illicit activities, however, today Anders is in the business of trying the life of a coach potato on for size. It behooves him to get more comfortable with the predominating culture inside the mansion. That being said, he's not quite at the point of being totally uncomfortable poking and prodding home entertainment systems unsupervised. Better he be the backwater Thedosian who asks for help than the elephant in the room that vandalizes someone else's property.

The man giving the green light brings out a pleased smile. We've got a live one!

"You're a good sport, uhh..." Anders doesn't yet have anything to fill the blank in with other than Mr. Tall and Stubbled.

"Kurt. Weller," he adds his last name as an afterthought, his speech a little stilted when he's conversing with someone he's more bemused by than anything else. As someone in law enforcement, Kurt is predisposed to being curious, asking a lot of questions, although some of those questions are ones he ruminates over in his mind without actually inquiring aloud. (Where's this guy from? Does he talk to everyone like this? Does he think he's funny?)

He's a helpful man when it comes to his actual job; helping people is what he does, after all, along with ensuring that the terrible people populating the earth are locked away where they can't hurt anyone else again. But outside of his job, he's not really the sort of person to position himself as a helper. There are people out there who want to help everyone all the time and Kurt's not one of them, not when it comes to helping someone figure out how to use an electronic device. So what, exactly, has compelled him to even offer now, when he could have taken the out given to him? It's his curiosity winning out, he supposes.

Plus, he's entertaining, and Kurt's not beneath drawing that out for a little while, seeing what he does from one moment to the next.

"You?"

Anders is on the verge of speaking again when the name sinks in. Hold that thought. Kurt... Weller?

"Weller. I know that name."

He looks closer at the man. Light complexion, fair hair, the shape of his face... Well, well, this must be Sarah's brother, the very same Kurt Weller she'd referenced in her video.

"Now I see the family resemblance. You have the same chin as your sister."

It's inevitable, of course, that his sister would meet people here. It's not exactly void of people, and he's met some decent ones himself. He can't expect her to lock herself in her room the whole time they're stuck here, though he also doesn't want her interacting with flirty men who could easily hurt or take advantage of her.

Of course, he's jumping to a lot of conclusions here, and he stops himself abruptly.

"She's my little sister," he tells him, crossing his arms over his chest. "How well do you know her?"

So this is the older brother, eh?

"It really is a small world. She was looking for you," he goes on to say. "I suppose she must have found you."

Kurt gets a head-to-toe appraisal as Anders looks him over for any noticeable big brother cliches and--ah! There's one now! Anders hasn't gotten the looming, overprotective "I pat down every man who gets within a mile of my sibling" talk before, but he imagines this is how one might begin.

He stops walking, too, and rewards Kurt with a smile that promises mischief and another completely bogus answer. "Playing around with people is certainly not above him. "We met the once, but I really feel we're on the fast track to being bosom buddies. Sharing each other's deepest, darkest secrets, friendship bracelets, the whole shebang."

He laughs to show he's not serious. Well, not entirely. He does know Sarah well enough to guess she's the good, decent sort of person looking for a way home and back to her family like so many others here.

"I've been around a while, so I played tour guide when she first arrived. The name's Anders. It's a pleasure to put a face to the name."

"We found each other," he confirms, though it's obvious. It's clear his demeanor has shifted. He almost resembles a mother grizzly bear about to raise up on her haunches to protect her cub. He probably wouldn't rip the other man apart limb from limb unless truly provoked, but the possibility is there. He seems like a decent enough guy, as long as his interactions with his sister remain purely platonic.

"She's a good girl," he says, like he's her father and she's just a child, which he knows is ridiculous the moment the words leave his mouth, but his expression remains neutral. "She's pretty happy here right now, as weird as this place is, and I'm gonna make sure she stays that way. You want her to stay that way, too, don't you?"

Obviously, there's only one answer here. And where he might normally tell the man it's a pleasure to meet him, after hearing his name, he just stares at him.

Oh Maker, it is. It is the talk. Anders' carefree antics and facade of being allergic to straight answers conceals a watchful manner, and he picks up on the shift happening behind Kurt's laser-like stare.

At home, every day had been an exercise in looking over his shoulder, keeping on high alert for templars. There'd been no telling who on the street would be willing to attack or turn in an apostate; by necessity Anders had learned to listen to what others say and observe what they don't say. And right now Kurt's set shoulders are saying "poke the bear at your own risk." Anders holds back a smile.

"I didn't doubt it for an instant." That she's a good girl. What a darling older brother thing to say.

He seems more or less oblivious to the verbal entrapment, nodding agreeably like Kurt couldn't be more right. "Of course. Happy wives, happy lives, or something like that. World peace and joy for all, big fan."

Happy, happy, happy. Everybody's happy.

He may be extraordinarily protective and quick to overreact (although try telling him that), but he can be reasonable. He's a pragmatic man, and though he has a temper at times, he doesn't let his emotions control him. Otherwise, he wouldn't function well at all in his job. He's come close, often, to wanting to physically hurt a suspect and though he's certainly yelled plenty of times, he's rarely committed any serious infractions when detaining even the worst suspects.

This conversation between them is tame, and Kurt knows it. He's also fully aware that Anders and Sarah might only ever just be friends, nothing more. But the point had to be made clear nonetheless. Anders has reacted well to what was his thinly veiled warning, and he appreciates that.

"Good," is all he says in response. They can be friendly, he even has a good feeling about the guy. He just had to make that point. "Then you can keep leading the way."

"Great," he echoes. "Great talk. Glad we got that sorted out."

Not that that had really done anything besides give Anders ammo to heckle Kurt with later, but it's good to know that if you mess with little sister, big brother is right around the corner. Cliched, but almost admirable in that wholesome family values sort of way.

He turns and continues on toward the movie theatre, which is where he'd been planning to spend his afternoon before he'd realized the gap between operating a phone and operating a viewing system is perhaps still a little too big for him to jump without supervision.

"In here," he says, and once inside he ignores the big screen entirely and points to a blu-ray player and a bundle of cords sitting next to a smaller entertainment area in a corner. Everything is there except for a power adapter. "I thought I could guess on what goes into what, but there a lot of little holes on the back of the television. You see my problem?"

Technology, why so complicated?

He has to hand it to the guy for taking the whole conversation in stride. If anything ever comes of it between him and Sarah, Kurt at least feels...somewhat reassured by the man, even if his jokes often fall flat in Kurt's mind. He seems mostly harmless, at the very least.

Once they get inside the room and Kurt sees what they're dealing with, his first reaction is to internally smirk. Internally. That's right. His face is still mostly a serious mask, and his eyes narrow a little.

"You were really out of your league here," he says first. But then he kneels and leans in closer, getting to work quickly with the wires and making sure everything's plugged in where it needs to be. He's figured out quickly that it needs to actually be plugged in, though, and looks over at Anders.

"First rule: you make sure the thing has juice. Power. This thing isn't even plugged in." Kurt looks around, quickly finding the adapter and holding it up to show him before plugging it in. Once that's done, the unit turns on.

This is a mutually beneficial partnership in so many ways. Kurt'll learn to appreciate his humor, he'll learn how to worship the television like the average American, and everyone lives happily ever after.

"Your peoples' gadgets are interesting, but they involve too many cords," he says, watching from over Kurt's shoulder. The power cable looks like every other cable to him, quite honestly, but that would explain why it'd seemed like he was missing a step in making sure the device was tethered to the wall. "Ahh, so that's the problem. I thought about powering it myself, but it'd be a shame to shock it and accidentally melt it."

Once the box is attached to the wall and the television like a little metal dog with two separate leashes, the screen lights up with color and sound. Seeing televisions come to life never gets old.

"It worked! You did it. See, you were the right guy for the job, after all."

He won't often give Anders the satisfaction of cracking a smile, necessarily, but there's a good chance he will be internally amused. Quite often. He's not the worst guy to have around. He could be stuck with someone exactly like himself, after all, and that would be...unpleasant.

Crossing his arms loosely over his chest, he smirks just a little. "Missed my calling, I guess."

He does enjoy seeing this man experiencing technology like it's something new and wonderful. It's rare to see that. "So you have magic or something?" He'd mentioned powering it himself, so he's curious.

"Well, if you ever stumble across a rune schematic and need a Thedosian to decipher it, I'll return the favor," he promises. That's some cross-dimensional cooperation for you.

Anders goes to collect the pile of DVD cases he'd left on a side table. Some of Alphys' favorite anime titles, as he understands it. There may even be a Sailor Moon or two in there.

"Or something, yes." His smile says Kurt is correct. "I'm a mage. Magic is our trade. I understand not every world has mages in it, though." Which is still extremely bizarre to him, but hey, so are most things about Wonderland. All things considered, it's probably the same level of bizarre as someone who hasn't grown up with electricity or a television set.

"I'm sure that's bound to happen sooner or later," Kurt deadpans. Although - why the hell not? It wouldn't be the strangest thing he's encountered here, or will encounter. If there ever is a need, he's sure he'll appreciate Anders for his assistance. Or something.

He actually recognizes Sailor Moon because of his nephew. The kid's into it for some reason, but as long as he enjoys it, he doesn't really care what he watches. It's better than something violent, anyway.

"Right. There's no magic in New York City," Kurt confirms. Or the rest of his world, for that matter. But, "Though there's a pizza place on Bleecker Street that makes me believe in magic every time I get a slice."

"I could throw fireballs at your enemies instead if you prefer." If the darkspawn return, a Grey Warden mage is good to have on your team, though Anders doesn't relish the idea of having to deal with another darkspawn event anytime soon. But menacing a few people? Introducing Kurt to Fereldan beer? He could deal with that.

He fans the DVD cases out in his hands, glancing at the covers with more interest now that he actually has the means to use the little silver discs.

"Pizza! I've tried that. It's pretty tasty." He looks up. Odd as it is to contemplate a place without a single drop of magic in it, he chuckles at Kurt. "Maybe your mages are just good at hiding in place sight. And dedicated to food service."

"Sure. I could use the backup," he remarks dryly, though there is some sincerity behind those words. He's not ignorant to the fact that some terrible things can and likely will happen here, and it's good to have backup.

"Maybe," he finally cracks just a little smirk. "My nephew watches some of this stuff," he gives a little nod to the DVDs.

Of course he wants someone throwing fireballs at his enemies. Who wouldn't want fireballs? No one messes with a guy who has fireballs on command.

"Your sister mentioned she had a son. He'd make one talking lizard I know very happy. Not the one named Bill who goes around breaking everything in Wonderland, mind you, but one of us in the mansion--Alphys is her name. She can't stop talking about anime."

"We could put the two of them together, I'm sure they'd get along. He's a good kid. He was in a play recently. Played the part of the gallbladder, we were all very proud," he smirks a little, purposefully being a little ambiguous. Though truth be told, even explaining that a little more doesn't make it less strange.

"Gruesome! That sounds like a traumatizing play for the actors as well as the audience."

The incredulous explanation is coupled with Anders raising his eyebrows, mostly in jest. He would hope a play for children wouldn't actually employ bloody body parts; he'd have to rethink Sarah's single mother parenting if that was the case.

Kurt's right, the idea of a boy method acting a gallbladder is still on the strange side, but when he's holding a handful of Alphys' anime DVDs Anders can't judge too harshly on strange.

"It must be difficult being separated while you're here, but hopefully he won't be dragged here and made to jump through the same hoops as the rest of us. As thanks for your impeccable and timely service, you're more than welcome to stay and watch with me," Anders adds with a laugh, sensing Kurt might rather do anything but that.

"I hope he never shows up here. Not because I don't wanna see him, I just don't want him going through any of the stuff this place throws at us. Wouldn't be good for Sarah, either." She misses Sawyer like hell, he knows that, but it's for the best right now.

Waving a hand politely, Kurt shakes his head. "No. You have fun. It's been...interesting. I'm sure I'll see you around again soon." Especially if the man gets to know his sister a little more.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ OPEN ]

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

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject