loficharm: (Default)
Martin Blackwood ([personal profile] loficharm) wrote2024-07-27 04:43 pm
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2 August, 2023

It's been so long since he received a hand-written letter that its arrival almost made him suspicious at first. He'd stared uncomprehendingly at the little envelope, the child-like scrawl of his name and address, and the sender's name, thinking Who the hell is Gwendolyn Blake? before he'd finally realized and torn the envelope open with a mix of disbelief and feverish curiosity.

He'd read the letter three times, first shocked, then ashamed, then finally with an odd mix of amusement and regret. It was just so... sweet, down to the bit where she explains that she'd have to stab him again if he ever tried to stab her. He'd clutched the thin sheet of loose leaf, the sort of thing he'd normally associate with school work, tightly between his fingers for several long seconds, trying to think what to do and how to do it.

There hadn't really been much to ponder. Poor Gwen deserves to be set at ease, and the only thing that had been holding him back was the assumption he and John had more or less shared, that she wouldn't want anything to do with them. But now that she's made this clear of an overture, there is nothing to hold him back.

It had been too late in the day for it, so he excuses himself from work the next day, heading straight for the Children's Home. He still has the letter, folded neatly in his pocket. He's not sure why, exactly. He supposes he could show it to someone if there are questions about his intent to see one of the kids, though it's not the sort of letter that should be shown around, either. Maybe it's just for some kind of odd moral support.

The woman who greets him doesn't ask for any such evidence, anyway. She just asks his name and relationship (with some hesitation, Martin offers that he's a friend, for lack of a better option), and then has him wait while she goes to find Gwen herself.

So he waits, as patiently as he can. He doesn't really know what to expect. Maybe this was stupid. Maybe he should have written her back first, asked if this would be okay. That would have been a lot more considerate. Christ, she might be scared he's come to get her in trouble. Why is he always so impulsive?

But before he can even consider the possibility of finding another adult to mitigate any potential misunderstandings, the woman he'd sent returns, with Gwen alongside her.

"Gwen!" he blurts before she can say anything, and he offers a slightly strained smile, awkward, but hopefully reassuring. "I, erm... I got your letter."
dumbfuckingfartknockers: (EYEROLL)

[personal profile] dumbfuckingfartknockers 2024-08-04 01:23 am (UTC)(link)
And just like that, she doesn't have to imagine it, because here Martin is, getting all blushy and embarrassed, and maybe not squeaky-voiced so much as stammering so much that she's amazed when he finally manages to get a whole sentence out. She snerks and then lifts a hand to cover her mouth, eyes wide first with guilt, then with realization.

"That's why he got so mad," she says. "That's why you got in the way! You're totally crazy for each other and in the movies when people are totally crazy for each other they do stupid shit!" Like jump in front of a knife, and scare the hell out of little girls. "I didn't even think about that 'cause I'm not used to—" She really needs to learn the right words for this... "—to boys being with boys, but makes so much sense!"
dumbfuckingfartknockers: (not tellin')

[personal profile] dumbfuckingfartknockers 2024-08-04 01:03 pm (UTC)(link)
Gwenny purses her lips to the side to stop from grinning at him, and looks down at her knees. There's something soft and kind of pretty about Martin when he laughs.

"I'm not gonna say it's not weird," she says, looking back up at him. "I mean... not because you're both boys. Just that..." He's a big scary creep who yells at kids?

She suddenly feels like she has to be careful of how she says things. If Martin loves The Eye Man the way he says he does, then he probably doesn't like hearing her say all the mean shit she's been saying — well, the true shit, but it's kinda mean, too, to call someone's boyfriend a creep or a jerkface. He's let her say it up to now with only some argument, but maybe now that she knows, he'll expect different.

"Well, I don't see it, that's all."
dumbfuckingfartknockers: (worried eyebrows)

[personal profile] dumbfuckingfartknockers 2024-08-05 12:29 pm (UTC)(link)
Gwenny nods, smiling small. "Okay," she says. She believes him, she finds, and it's a good feeling to have. "And I'll try not to dream about that place again. I mean... it doesn't work like that, but maybe if I know I'm doing it, I can wake myself up, right?" It seems a little weak, but at least it's something.

Still, she looks a little uncomfortable, and she fidgets with her nails a little, the microphone long since forgotten.

"Why eyes?" she asks, but there's a worried grimace on her face, like she's afraid of the answer.
dumbfuckingfartknockers: (worried eyebrows)

[personal profile] dumbfuckingfartknockers 2024-08-06 03:30 pm (UTC)(link)
Gwenny can understand that. That fear. She thinks she'd felt it in that dream. She remembers a prickling sensation in the back of her neck, and the discomfort of those eyes staring… She shivers as she remembers it and rubs her hands again. But then Martin says he thinks it would have been worse if they'd stayed instead of coming to Darrow.

“Your home was that bad?” she asks. Her voice is softer, now, with more concern for Martin than her own discomfort in it.
dumbfuckingfartknockers: (not tellin')

[personal profile] dumbfuckingfartknockers 2024-08-11 12:16 pm (UTC)(link)
That's a fair question, though it does make Gwenny feel a little nervous, like she really shouldn't be talking about it. But she and Martin have already talked about so much together, so she knows it's just an instinct carried over from Daddy and their screaming matches. Still, she hesitates for a second or two, then finally says, "Well, Mommy did. I think she could see stuff, too? Daddy said that she'd hear things." She purses her lips to the side, trying not to remember the way Daddy talked about her. Gwenny has her own suspicions now, after what happened while looking for Finney, but now that she's here, she can't tell Daddy or Finney. She's not sure they'd even believe her if she did. Well, Finney might.

And maybe Martin would, too.

"I think," she begins, then hesitates and trails off.