OOC: Appointments

[burns_so_brightly]

Please date and tag with [action], [voice], or [video] in the subject line.

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January 10th - [action]

[winksandnods]

High up, good view of the landscape, close to the library.

Anything else?

[It's said calmly about ten steps after they've left the house. It was a challenge, certainly, getting Guy to let Julian go hunting for a flat alone. Or, rather, in the company of Anthony Blunt.

But ancient history is ancient history. Dead and buried.

There's too much said and unsaid, revealed and hidden. Neither of them are what they were the last time they met, and especially not what they were in Cambridge.

Anthony already has a cigarette in his mouth. Cold, detached. Above and away from everything.]

[burns_so_brightly]

No, that sounds about right! [A slight laugh, because laughing is what Julian does. He has his hands firmly in his pockets. It hasn't been nearly as long for him as it has been for Anthony, of course, and he's starting to feel that gap. He used to believe he could read the stoic Anthony, even though he'd had his moments of doubt. Now, the man was closed as completely as he could be, leaving Julian feeling strange and awkward.]

[winksandnods]

[So many years trying to keep their small group together, keep Guy from falling apart. I'm tired. I'm more tired than it's possible to be. But Julian was far removed from that, beyond far removed. He knew now what they were, but that... did nothing.]

Community Housing Four or Seven are closest to the library. Both of them are pretty well almost surrounded by the woods, especially if you get something toward the back of the building.

[burns_so_brightly]

[Another laugh, this one stronger, and it comes with a bright smile.] Being on the top floor, I don't think counting steps is going to do much good.

[winksandnods]

[Anthony chuckled faintly, nodding slightly.]

It's not bad, the scenery around here.

[burns_so_brightly]

No, it's nice! It's also a little short. [It's the height of cities more than their fatness, their endless expansion, that makes them seem huge.]

[winksandnods]

It's a far cry from what any of us are used to.

[burns_so_brightly]

You haven't gotten used to it yet?

[He's chasing an implication more than anything.]

[winksandnods]

Not yet. Doubt I will be any time soon.

[burns_so_brightly]

[There, there's a little Anthony. He pursues that.] Why?

[winksandnods]

[A pause. There are things he can say now that he can't around Guy.]

Because I have no choice. I have to be here.

[burns_so_brightly]

So does everyone. Looks to me like some people have settled in. Why not you?

[Because it's not Anthony. But he wants to hear it.]

[winksandnods]

[A pause. Julian knows the answer, and Anthony knows he'll have to say it. Might as well get it over with.]

Because I hate to be anywhere I haven't chosen to be.

[burns_so_brightly]

[Julian draws a pack of cigarettes from one pocket and opens it, drawing out two and handing one to his companion.] Everyone hates it, it isn't your special sensibilities. I have no bloody choice either, but it's that or literally spend the rest of my life discontented and waiting to die again. Why not even try?

[winksandnods]

[Waiting to die again.

Anthony frowned, trying not to think about that too hard.]

Why not try to change it? [Ah, there was the Anthony Blunt of Cambridge.] We can't leave, but that hardly requires us to simply accept that "this is the way it's always been, so this is the way it will always be."

So much complacency, and no one sees it for what it is-- dangerous.

[burns_so_brightly]

So what are you gonna do about it, eh? Change the world?

[There's a sparkle in his eye when he says it. The answer is yes, Anthony. Anything less would be unlike you.]

[winksandnods]

I can try. Do it. Or die trying.

[He's trying to hide that smile... but it's there.]

[burns_so_brightly]

Then what have you been doing the last four months? Sitting on your arse, wishing you were somewhere else? That's not the Anthony Blunt I knew.

[winksandnods]

Gathering information. Sorting it. Figuring out what matters and what doesn't.

[He's biting the end of his cigarette more than he's smoking it. He's still smoking it, of course, but his teeth are definitely coming down onto what's in his mouth.

His voice is low, almost muttered. Julian knows what they all are now. There's no reason to hide this much, then. And it's... easier to talk to a man he knows to be dead than to Kim. And certainly easier than talking to Guy.]

I know England. I know what to change and how to change it. It's slow work. So infuriatingly slow... but I know the key players and how they move. How to influence how they move.

None of the information from the world I know helps me here. New government. New system. New people in charge.

And we started at the bottom of the ladder this time.

[burns_so_brightly]

[A shrug.] I can help. Talk to people. Go on a few dates. Find out who pulls strings round here, besides the bloody scientists.

[winksandnods]

The Malnosso don't associate with us. Makes it harder.

[...And, for good measure, so he can honestly say he tried--]

Don't put yourself in any danger.

Guy would never forgive me. [And he's skirted too close to that line before with Guy where Julian was concerned. He won't let this put him past it.]

[burns_so_brightly]

[A laugh.] What does Guy have to do with it? I choose what I choose, and I'd like to help you. It's better than doing nothing.

[winksandnods]

[Because I have to protect Guy.]

Because I will have to answer to Guy if I encourage or even allow you to do anything dangerous.

[burns_so_brightly]

[Julian is getting a weird feeling about this.]

Why?

[winksandnods]

Because that's what I do. What I have always tried to do.