MM: get what you see

[isaysimplewords]

Today, Cal is vomit-free.

He has a small scarlet feather in his hair, though. He hasn't noticed it yet.

He's at a table with a cup of coffee, half-watching the crowd.

Comments

[prima-sequentem.livejournal.com]

"To the public I'm Elizabeth Chandler. To you I'm James Moriarty."

[isaysimplewords]

Cal is still not up-to-date, so to speak, on his Victorian lit.

But he did do some Googling at home after the meeting with Sherlock.

So, after looking startled for a second - he laughs.

[prima-sequentem.livejournal.com]

"Now that's familiar."

[isaysimplewords]

"Are they books on your world, too?" he asks, before he really thinks about it.

[prima-sequentem.livejournal.com]

"Of course. And when I told you, you laughed pretty much like that. It's worked out pretty well for us so far, though."

[isaysimplewords]

"Well, there's another world where I'm apparently basically John Watson, so."

He seems to feel that that sentence finishes itself.

[prima-sequentem.livejournal.com]

James cracks up.

[isaysimplewords]

Cal laughs too.

"It gets better," he says. "He's a clone of this guy from a comic book movie, and he's like seventeen. And it's one of those worlds with vampires and things."

[prima-sequentem.livejournal.com]

"...Your Holmes," she fills in. "God, I love this bar."

[isaysimplewords]

"So do I."

He really, really does.

"I don't have a Holmes. Or a Moriarty. I'm starting to think I got ripped off."

[prima-sequentem.livejournal.com]

"Oh, you poor thing. I'd offer to fix that for you, but I'd need to ask my husband first."

[isaysimplewords]

Oh, Jesus, there's a world where he's monogamous? How depressing.

"You could tell him it doesn't count with doubles," he says, very seriously.

Or - very much like someone who lost his ability to keep a straight face somewhere along the way, at any rate.

[prima-sequentem.livejournal.com]

"Oh, don't get me wrong, he'll say yes. It's just polite to let him know."

[isaysimplewords]

Oh, good. That's much less depressing. Cal smiles.

"Is it?" he says. "Deborah and I never worried about it much."

[prima-sequentem.livejournal.com]

"I think we've already confirmed that I'm not Deborah. Communication is important in relationships, you know. Besides, you always know where to find the cute ones."

[isaysimplewords]

. . . Yeah. He definitely got ripped off.

"It's a skill."

[prima-sequentem.livejournal.com]

"Don't I know it."

[isaysimplewords]

"I'm starting to think my doubles have all the luck."

Five minutes into this conversation and it's already obvious that this Mrs Chandler has a very different kind of relationship with her husband. The kind where they won't still be virtual strangers almost twenty years in, for a start.

[prima-sequentem.livejournal.com]

"Luck? I'll have you know I spent four years working for this," she says, brushing her fingers over her ring. "Worth every second. Including all the hair dye."

[isaysimplewords]

Cal smiles wryly.

"So I married my mother."

[prima-sequentem.livejournal.com]

"That joke has not gotten any less awful since the first time you made it, Oedipus."

[isaysimplewords]

The smile turns into a grin.

"I notice you didn't say 'no.'"

[prima-sequentem.livejournal.com]

"Please. I'm not your mother. I have a lot more fun."

[isaysimplewords]

"You know what," Cal says, "that I believe."

[prima-sequentem.livejournal.com]

She's relaxed enough to add, without completely thinking through the consequences, "And Violet Chandler set her sights too low."