anunluckypenny | IC Contact

Because that's totally something I would do. ...No, I really appreciate the company.

Me, too.

[Company is a quiet preoccupation now. He seeks it out, to keep himself away from the bottle (or keep the glasses to a respectable social norm) and because company - the company he keeps lately - can provide a similar few minutes of forgetting himself. Problem is, beyond the people he doesn't see in the morning, most of the company he's closest to is becoming a problem in itself.

Penny's different, and he doesn't come to her for the same reasons, although they're not absent, when he's with her. But that me, too is heartfelt.]

I'm surprised you don't have more. [Which is a tactless thing to say, isn't it.] I mean - I really am sorry about Wilson.

[There's no way Penny can fathom the kinds of things that go on in Chase's life (although she truly would listen, if he cared to unburden himself). She's just pleased that he sounds sincere when he seconds her appreciation of the current company.

His lack of tact just gets a laugh--short, as the statement becomes less funny when she realizes that she usually doesn't have company after hours.]

It's okay. About Wilson, I mean... and the other part, too. You're here now; that's something.

[He'd be too scared to tell her - terrified of her judgement and terrified that she'd accept him and tarnish who she is. It's much too early to contemplate.

But nobody knowing is lonely as hell and there's a part of him that recognises something similar about her.]

Not sure I can measure up to Wilson, he's kind of a Jewish mother. I can't even make chicken soup.

But I'm here.

You guys're too different to compare, you know? Believe me, I like you for being you; I'm not looking for a replacement Wilson.

[Penny isn't sure what she's looking for. A friend? Someone to sleep with? A confidant?

Company? Definitely company.]

Have any plans for the rest of the night?

Edited 2012-10-14 21:04 (UTC)

[I like you for being you. the sentiment triggers a smile and a small pang of guilt all at once. It's a concept he'll never entirely grasp: that being him would be enough reason, let alone enough effort on his part, for someone to care.

But that's a distraction from the more interesting question, to which he shakes his head slowly in answer.]

Only you.

[Chase will just need to try harder to wrap his mind around being cared about for being himself.

And Penny's openly pleased with his answer.]

Then can I bother you to stick around?

I'd love to stick around.

[There is, after all, still half a pizza to finish, cooling in its box, but he doesn't seem to be paying that much attention anymore.]

But I can't promise it's going to bother me.

Thank you... and it'll be easier on both of us if you don't mind.

[She has successfully finished a slice, but the rest of the pizza is up for grabs.]

And it really does get lonely, sometimes.

Even with the fish?

[The fish he'd bought for her for that reason exactly - not because he expected what was essentially a small, orange wall decoration to cure the loneliness, but as a gateway to talking about it. Because, roommates departing notwithstanding, there was just something about her that telegraphed that she was. It took one to know one, maybe.]

Have you thought about getting your own place again? There must be storage space above here you could turn into a flat, be on the premises but have room for some less peripatetic company.

Even with Lucretia and the dogs. They're good company, though, just not that talkative.

[Lonely attracts lonely? He hasn't said as much, but Penny would bet good money that Chase is lonely--if not in a literal sense.]

You know, I've been thinking about renting that area. It's kind of attic-y, but it could work.

[As literal a sense as hers, surrounded by people who come and go.]

Paint on the walls, a couple of new windows knocked through - I'll have a look at it if you like.

That almost sounds like an offer to help de-attic the place. I'll see if it's up for grabs. I don't know why it wouldn't be... it's not like there's anyone up there.

Then it sounds as it was intended.

[He tips his head back to start on another slice of pizza, catching the dangling strings of cheese first. Not graceful, but at least he chews and swallows before continuing, using the rest of the slice to gesture.]

There's this place on the beach I've been working on in my downtime. I wouldn't mind a warmer winter project.

Then thank you.

[Chase is a lot more polite about eating than some people who come through here. At least he has mastered the art of not talking with his mouth full.]

What kind of a place? Maybe I could help you out with that when spring comes around.

[Which assumes that both of them will be in the City come spring.]

I've been turning one of the vacation chalets out there into something more permanently liveable. Or that was the original intention.

What's the current intention? Summer home? I've only been inside one of them and it wasn't exactly warm and cozy.

Currently it's liveable, I'm just... not. I've ended up with a rented room and a property portfolio. You're welcome to come down and take a look - there's not much to the decor but a fridge and some surf gear.

A property portfolio?

[She declines the invitation with a shake of her head.] Nah, I'm not big on the beach--I mean, unless you'd like me to go. Do you surf?

No, I just like looking at the wetsuits on the wall.

[He spoils the deadpan within seconds by grinning sheepishly and adding-]

I also keep an apartment in one of the buildings—it's got most of the things people told me were mine when I first arrived.

Okay, dumb question.

[His smile is returned regardless.]

That's handy, I guess. Do you ever... I don't know, look at those things that're supposed to have belonged to you and almost remember them?

[He's not sure how to answer that. Most people would get a curt 'no'.]

Sometimes I think I do. I don't know if that counts.

[sometimes he gets that feeling with people, too.]

It counts. I mean, I think so... I do it. There's a box of stuff that used to belong to the me that was here before and sometimes there's this... deja vous, you know?

Could just be that they're things we would own, that we're recognising ourselves in that.

[He's gone over this question with himself a few times.]

I've wondered if past memories could be recovered through hypnosis. But I'm not sure, for my own part, how much I want to know.

I don't know. There's this necklace with a heart on it--like, the kind of heart in a Grey's Anatomy book--that I'm not so sure I'd own, but maybe you're right.

Can hypnosis work like that?

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