[APPOINTMENTS POST] 13 Paternoster Road

[eversohungry]

[This is an appointment post for Vastra at luceti.]

[When making a new thread, please mark the subject with Action/Video/Voice/Written and the date the thread takes place.]

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April 14th | Action

[jamesbarnes]

[With things slowly but surely getting back to normal, Bucky finally gets around to checking on the people he hasn't seen much of since the draft. Vastra is right at the top of that list, which is why he shows up at her door that morning instead of hailing her through the journals. He knocks, then calls out.]

Miss Vastra? You home?

[eversohungry]

[The knock is utterly unexpected. Which is why Vastra starts and looks up, alarmed, in the middle of preparing her lunch. Eyebrows coming together, Vastra strides to the door and peers through it--]

Sergeant Barnes! [Vastra's eyes go wide and her hands instinctively go to close her dressing gown. Bollocks.] What-- what is it? Is something wrong?

[jamesbarnes]

No, everything's fine, I ah -- [He averts his gaze politely while she closes her dressing gown.]

Thought I'd stop by, see if you wanted to have that lunch you owe me. This a bad time?

[eversohungry]

That lunch-- ah... [Vastra looks back into her "drawing space"/living room area while holding the neck of her gown closed. It's covered in dishes. Her kitchen doesn't look much better, Vastra's been eating raw meat pretty much every day and not cleaning up. It's evident, just by looking at the room, that Vastra hasn't been taking very good care of herself.]

[It's a disaster. But Vastra's from a time when people don't just show up at the door, they write or call or make an appointment. Vastra is also from a time when even if people didn't call ahead, one doesn't leave them standing in the hallway with the door shut in their face. So while she is half dressed (Protip: not by modern standards), and her apartments are a mess, it would be worse to leave Bucky outside. The wheels turn for a few seconds in her head and then she nods, resigned, and opens the door the rest of the way to let him in.]

Please come in, Sergeant. Though I am afraid I am not quite ready to entertain, I can at the very least offer you tea or coffee while I get dressed?

[Lucetiville Event] August 3/4

[complicatedliar]

[From here]

You're the next best thing to family. Of course I have time.

What is the matter at hand?

[Lucetiville Event] August 3/4

[eversohungry]

[Ah. That made this very awkward indeed, didn't it?]

Unfortunately, a difficult matter. [Vastra takes a breath and lets it out quietly. Sighing heavily into the phone is a bit dramatic, even for this particular call.]

I know you had next to no hand in the arrangement between Adele and Eugene, Loki. However I felt it best to come to you, before Eugene attempted to navigate the situation, to iron out any inter-family politics. He is, regrettably, in love with someone else.

...I don't suppose I need to explain to you how I feel on the matter.

Re: [Lucetiville Event] August 3/4

[complicatedliar]

Ah, yes. I'm aware theirs is intended to be a marriage of convenience. I have suggested to Eugene myself that perhaps he ought to jump ship, but I don't think he realized I was serious.

However, they are adults. They make their own decisions. I'll admit, it would look better for my family if one of us were married, and Adele seems better at finding people than I.

Re: [Lucetiville Event] August 3/4

[eversohungry]

[Yes, in Vastra's very secret opinion, if any of the remaining Odinson children were going to be married, Adele would be the one. Vastra adored Loki and worried about him, but there was only so much she could do. Loki's critical moment came at almost the same time as Vastra's deeper mourning, and when she'd dropped completely off the radar.]

He's taking this thing entirely seriously, yes. I think he believes himself to be far more secretive than he actually is. [She chuckles, sounding relieved. Eugene would probably be mortified if he knew his mother was calling ahead to call off his marriage, but Vastra figures that if she has to say absolutely nothing during the meeting that would be for the best.]

Well then, who could we set your sister up with?

[Action ; October 15th]

[z_jay]

[Time had passed and there was a definite hush to the surroundings. Most people were avoiding each other for some reason or other and Eugene hadn't seen Vastra since Pepper and Tony's wedding. It wasn't like her to be completely absent and given the link they shared, he wasn't keen on letting her simply remain absent.

His concern brought him to her home, knocking and not giving in when an answer wasn't forthcoming. Window-tapping wasn't beyond him, and he began to peer in wherever he could in an attempt to get her attention if she didn't answer.]

[Action ; October 15th]

[eversohungry]

[Vastra is starving.]

[Regular eating, where silurians were concerned, wasn't such a necessary thing. However it's been days since Vastra has cared enough to stand up and leave her apartment for food. Even when she started to feel dizzy, she couldn't care enough.]

[She'd had a family, and a happy life. And all of it had been taken away for some reason she couldn't figure out. So there was no one to blame, no one to push back against. She was a victim of the strange and cruel circumstance.]

[Over and over, Vastra had told herself that Jenny would have been terrified to see her like this. Terrified or furious. But Vastra felt broken beyond repair, and it didn't help that thoughts of what Jenny might think couldn't motivate her to get up.]

[So when Eugene peers in her window, he'll see Vastra laying on her couch, fully dressed but disheveled, only half aware of what's going on around her.]

[z_jay]

[Breath caught in his throat as he recognized her laying on the couch and he narrowed his eyes a little. Was she breathing? Was she alright? Turning, he eyed the entrance to her house and worked the knob, only to find it locked. There was no way he was leaving this here, so he went back to the window and pounded on it, in an attempt to get her attention]

Vastra!

[Was the window open? No, but he wasn't going to quit there, he moved back to the door and checked for a key somewhere-- old habits from home did die hard, even if they were older than surviving zombie hordes. Travelling without a knife was something he used to do but not now, and he worked to jimmy the lock of Vastra's door open.

Okay, so maybe it was a little dramatic, but she knew about how he and Jack met. Sometimes things were dramatic. Pressing the door open, he closed it behind, giving a look left and right to make sure no one had incapacitated her. Verifying that, he stepped forward, concern on his face when he hovered over her]

Vastra, what's wrong?

[eversohungry]

[The pounding on the window did mostly nothing to rouse her, though even weak as she was she still was aware of it. Was it the droids again? Coming to take her to hospital again so she could be nursed back to health and then start the cycle over?]

[Imbeciles. This wasn't an illness of the body.]

[When the door opens, she just waits for the many mechanical arms to pick her up and carry her off. Eugene's voice actually moves her to open her eyes and offer the barest of smiles. Clever little chick, he broke into her apartment.]

I'm dying, Eugene. [It seems the simplest way to explain it.] I believed nothing could break my spirits, that as long as I kept my focus on the day I would return I would overcome anything. I grossly overestimated myself.

[She reaches with a weak hand, trying to find Eugene's.] I had hoped you and Jack would believe I had gone home. I'm sorry you had to see me this way.

[Written] March 5

[complicatedliar]

I'm going to go get a coffee. Perhaps you'd like to join me.

[Written] March 5

[eversohungry]

[Well, this is a little out of the blue. Not that Vastra minds, it's been quiet where she's concerned lately. Not that it wasn't amusing to watch everyone frolic about with love on their minds, but given she found herself unaffected it was only entertaining for so long.]

Certainly. I haven't been out in ages, I would be glad to.

[Written] March 5

[complicatedliar]

Excellent. I shall await you at the coffee shop.

[And he sure is.]

[Action] March 5

[eversohungry]

[And once Vastra changes into something more appropriate for coffee with a friend (read: not a dressing gown), she arrives to join him.]

It has been a while, hasn't it? I thought things had been strangely quiet around here, Valentine's Day being the exception.

[Action] September 13th

[eversohungry]

[Well, after a long night of listening to students carrying on over the Luceti Featherbowl win (and Zevran's very excellent attempts to distract her from going onto the front lawn to screech), Vastra is tired enough for a bit of a lie-in. Plus the bed is very cozy and warm, how could she resist staying there for a few more--]

[Oh Goddess no.]

[Things click back into place in one heavy second, like an unoiled piston suddenly remembering how it was supposed to move. Zevran was not her husband-- Zevran was the husband of her adopted children. And she was far from human, and far from clothed too. The thought of her skin being seen by anyone who wasn't Jenny makes her want to tear the sheets off the bed and wrap herself from head to toe-- however she at least was fond enough of Zevran to not leave him without some means to modesty in front of his mother-in-law.]

[So Vastra lays there, staring motionless at the wall with her head on Zevran's shoulder and her arm around him. For the first time in her life, she has no idea what to do in this situation. So The Direct Approach it is.]

Zevran. Zevran wake up.

[Action] September 13th

[antivanleather]

[ It had been an invigorating week. The students, their arguments, the game- his wife kept him settled and calm for most of the hours they shared together. Soft skin and warm hair and all the curves he has loved most and missed for the past few years-

Because he's been with men.

The last women he laid with is dead. Bled out in an alley like a dog.

The skin next to his is not warm, is not smooth- it's chilled and rough like a reptiles because it IS a reptiles and- Vastra.

He'd been sleeping with Vastra. Madly in love with VASTRA. ]

If I keep my eyes closed I can pretend this never happened.

[ He does just that. Keeps his eyes closed and carefully removes his arm from her shoulders, she's not his to touch. She is WED in her own world. He is wed in this one! ]

[Action] September 13th

[eversohungry]

You read my mind. Please just... keep your eyes closed.

[Vastra slowly moves away, tense as she watches Zevran's face very intently for any sign of his eyes opening. Because now she has no bedclothes and is still as naked as the day she hatched.]

I am going to-- find, something, to wear, and I am going to... find you something to wear. And then we are going to strategize.

[Action] September 13th

[antivanleather]

Of course.

[ As soon as that arm's free he brings his hand up to cover his face, scrubbing at his eyes and keeping them covered. Her modesty first. He tries to shake the memory of her, human and vital and vibrant and so much like Rinna from his mind. It doesn't work. But once she's dressed he'll sort out his own mind. ]

Are we in your bedroom or in mine?

[Action] September 18th

[eversohungry]

[Few things had enough effect on Vastra to cause her to exile herself from social life.]

[Remembering how much she and Zevran had 'loved' one another in the week previous is enough to make her want to throw herself off the community housing building every time she remembered. Not only because Zevran was married to Jack and Eugene, creating a very Oedipal situation that had every natural instinct in Vastra's body recoiling in disgust, but also because of her own commitment. She loved Jenny, she'd never thought to love another person because their relationship was so deep and so certain and so strong. How would she face Jenny if her wife ever arrived? She couldn't accept that there was nothing she could have done to resist it, Vastra refuses to acknowledge that she has such little power over her own situation.]

[And yet... what else can be said? She had been unfaithful to the woman she cared most for, and was sick over it. Vastra had been inside and out of touch, away from her journal, ever since waking up against Zevran. Certainly they had spoken about how this could be handled, but everything was spinning around inside her head so fast she could barely get the unwanted thoughts out of her mind.]

[She had betrayed her wife, and her children. Nothing could be done to undo it, apologies could only be made. But Vastra, shockingly, was too afraid.]

[z_jay]

[ That Vastra hadn't responded to Jack's post regarding the restoration of his hearing, Eugene immediately became concerned. Any number of scenarios came to mind, but the last one being that she would electively do this, abscond from any sort of contact. She had to be ill, or injured, or perhaps distracted with something of equal import...

He had managed to pry Jack away from his earbuds long enough to convince him to join him. In an effort to check on Vastra... he had contemplated going alone, since it may be she simply didn't desire company-- but Vastra had been as close to a mother as she could possibly be to the both of them, and it was something they hadn't forgotten. If Eugene went, Jack went with.

Which was what found them outside her residence, Eugene knocking on the door, calling for Vastra without an ounce of anger or resentment or negativity. It could be that he was unaware of the goings-on, or perhaps... it wouldn't be such an ordeal as one might anticipate... ]

[Action] October 7 midmorning

[z_jay]

[ Let it be known that Eugene would not skimp on quality. Especially not with food being the category being currently held quality to. Food for the average consumer was plentiful, and though Eugene could complain about the lack of truly gourmet items, he had just come from a zombie apocalypse where stewed nettles were a delicacy.

That was no excuse to hold the bar low, however, especially in regards to the more-than-average consumer, those who had particular diets. Trapping was a skill he and Jack had acquired during their time outside Abel, and trapping was his hunting method of choice.

The bruising of meat was minimal, and you didn't shoot and tear some of it. The only hinderance to actually eating it was...]

Nope. Too scrawny. Look, you'll probably get sick eating it...

[eversohungry]

Beggars cannot be choosers, though. [Vastra also looks disappointed by the meager squirrel she and Eugene have managed to snare, however she doesn't want to impose too heavily on Eugene and keep him into the woods all morning looking for a meal.]

I'm sure with some potatoes, carrots... it could be a meal.

[Of sorts.]

[z_jay]

Which only applies if you're begging.

[ Releasing the squirrel, he watched as it scampered off, moving back to getting the trap properly set ]

There's better game, we just have to keep trying.

[ The length of time for the day didn't matter. But he wouldn't let Vastra starve long. ]

At least a wild boar.