laytondressing | 'Cause Descole's a Creative Genius

[Descole smiles admirably.]

I noticed that. I actually was wondering whether or not this piano was trap, but upon looking at it, I saw nothing. I take it you didn't touch this.

[Anyone could come through. Does that mean he could approach the man he didn't want to see? No. Jerome didn't know where he was. He had no idea where he lived. There was no way he could get trapped in this portal could he?]

Well, if it's the fifteenth floor you say, I'd like to join you, Miss Jean.

I... playing piano isn't something that I've done in a very long time, no. I'd feel too open, if I'm honest.

[She nods, taking a step away and then stopping.]

You're welcome to join me up there, double, so long as you can stand the company of Luke Triton. Though, I suppose the rooms are big enough that avoiding him wouldn't be too hard.

[He sighs and nods.]

Luke Triton. Well this should be interesting.

[He begins following her out. This whole place is rigged and most likely, if it wasn't made by another Descole, there was no way he would be able to disipher the puzzle. It was admirable.]

Music has been my second passion along with, well, my escapades. But that's a different story.

It's an older version of him. ...well, he's the age he would have been in my world, by the looks of things, but you understand my meaning.

[Worrying her lip between her teeth again as she leads him to the elevator, Descole watches her double once they're in it and moving.]

I... miss music, I must admit. But, as I said, it makes me feel too open. I lose myself in it, and while I'm playing I cannot put my full attention into my surroundings.

Hm, maybe an older version isn't too bad.

[He looks at her figure following her out, noticing she was just as scrawny as he was. He knew how it felt to be afraid to be open. He new perfectly well.]

You don't eat do you? I haven't eaten anything but fruit or vegetables in years. Where you ever in dance? I find myself in great control when I'm by myself. I cannot do anything musical with other people around.

He was... kind to me, even after seeing some of my scars.

[Descole lets out a faint sigh, looking away from her double for now.]

I eat as much as I need to, double. Although I must confess that my diet also sounds much less healthy than yours; I'm more accustomed to just meat and starchy foods like bread or pasta, myself. Fruit and vegetables are a shamefully rare part of my diet.

Dance is... not something that I've ever done, no. I suppose that part of the problem is not feeling safe even when alone. I fear that I won't remain alone, you see.

[Nodding at her words, he sighs back.]

I understand. For me, music is the only thing I can get lost in, and feel safe. It's amazing how we can be doubles and think soI differently, but similar at the same time.

I shouldn't be spilling my heart out to you. I don't know who is listening, for one. For another, you've for your own problems, you don't need mine as well.

[This must have been a test for him. The whole situation seems so unreal, his only idea was it being a test. Who would put him up to such a thing, and why? He supposes he needs to stop being so open. Who else could be here watching? It was no comforting thought.]

Well... in the elevators, at least, I believe that we're more-or-less safe from prying eyes. Definitely in my rooms, if you'd rather hold off until then.

[When the elevator stops, she steps out, ducking under one of the ropes marked with a 'Caution' sign.]

Ignore the signs, as I said; they're my own work.

Frankly, in regards to telling me your problems... it's nice to know, in a sense, that we're not exactly the same, while not so different as to be unrecognisable as versions of the same person. And if music is the only thing that you can lose yourself in safely... well, the problems of others are my equivalent. For some people, the telling helps, and in that way I'm able to help with their troubles, and not dwell on my own for as long as the telling takes.

[At least, that's what Descole has justified her meetings with the convict Clive Dove as. Layton isn't visiting him - and the boy is lucky for it, despite missing the professor he remembers - so Descole takes his place. Doing the same with her double, as it were, is even better in that she can fool herself into thinking she's actually helping herself, even if she can't lose herself in that connection the way she does with others. No matter how emotional she gets, she cannot mix him up with herself. Though, perhaps his being the one person she cannot mix up with his equivalent in her world works as a measure of her remaining sanity; when her emotions become enough that she can no longer differentiate between herself and her own doubles, as she already struggles with others and their doubles, then what sanity remains at present will have left her.]

I suppose this is safe enough.

[No matter how bad he wants to get the truth if his life off his chest, he knows it is the only thing holding back. His resistance to let the past go has helped his plans fail more than once. His memories where enough to eat himself from the inside out. They were enough to mess with his whole sense of being.]

[Thinking back, he finds it strange she has more normal eating habits than he. He can't eat anything without feeling weak, how can his own double survive of meat and pastas? Hw almost felt jealous.]

Good work. If I had been here long enough, I probably would have done the same thing.

[Should he just tell her his problems. She was his double, in the sense, wasn't she? Well, if she wasn't, who could she be? Maybe he will wait until she pries. Descole doesn't need to feel any weaker than he already does.]

You wouldn't know where to find a cup of tea in a place like this, would you?

[Pushing open the door to her set of rooms, she gestures for her double to follow her in.]

Tea, I can handle. This place seems to stock its cupboards rather well, even if the things don't seem to actually come from anywhere. Never look a gift horse in the mouth, I suppose.

How do you take it?

[She sets about preparing it while she waits for his answer, although she's only got the one cup out. She's contemplating raiding the mini-fridge again, although after the last time she had alcohol that's... probably inadvisable, really. Glancing back at her double, she leans herself against the counter and starts to remove her cloak, though she leaves the boa in place. It hides some of her scars, after all.]

Do you drink, double? I'm undecided as to whether I should touch the stuff again, after the last time.

Black, please.

[He removes his cloak as well and keeps his muffler on. He isn't sure what to think about the place he's in, especially still with this woman.]

I do drink. Every now and then that is. Usually not alone.

[Nodding, she turns back to the tea.]

I wasn't drinking alone, you see, and that's rather the problem. I must admit I made a rather... interesting choice in bedmates while I was drunk.

[To say the least.]

[Descole smirked. He found himself in a similar situation.]

Did you choose Layton?

[Hopping in bed with your enemy had to be one of the most embarrassing things. Needless to say, he had made that mistake, and usually enemies don't continue being that bad. But he knew that she, still was a different person. She was quite more talkative and easy to tell her story. As much as he wished he could be that way, he just can't.]

That... might have been preferable, actually, even with all the attached trauma.

[Not to say that it's not a choice she's never made in the past, before everything that her Layton did to her. That was a decision she'd made while sober, however, as well as a decision that she doesn't think she could repeat again with any amount of alcohol in her.

Finishing the tea, she brings it over, passing the cup to her double and then settling herself in one of her armchairs.]

Tell me, are you familiar with Don Paulo?

[Sitting down in a chair, he gives an incredulous smile.]

Is he just as obnoxious and irritating in your world? Did you sleep with him?

In my defence, copious amounts of alcohol were ingested beforehand.

It was in this place. He seemed surprised to find that I was a woman, and also to develop a rather instantaneous crush on me when he discovered. I suppose that desperation will do that.

[Leaning her head on her hand, she stares off into space a moment before glancing back at him.]

Truth be told, I feel bad for the man. I'm afraid that I make something of a jumpy bedmate, nowadays, and I'm sure I did wonders for his self-esteem.

[Descole crossed his legs and leans his head in hisbhand as well. He sighed outwards.]

I suppose I'm the same way. You get that way when...well you know the unfortunate story.

[He sighs again thinking of his stepfather and then he shakes his head trying to get that image out of his mind. He hopes he can kill that man before he dies off.]

Well, that must have been a bad headache in the morning.

Quite, to both. I'm rather unaccustomed to drinking, and... well, I was more accustomed to sex before, but less so nowadays.

I suppose it would have been worse for me had I allowed him to stay the night. Evidently, even while drunk I had the forethought to throw him out, so at least the mortification of the next morning was conducted alone.

[She supposes that Luke might have heard her, but given that he made no appearance she rather hopes that she didn't disturb him. Watching her double, Descole lets out a faint sigh of her own. It's been too long since she's been able to speak to someone openly, like this, and even when she is it's only a different version of herself. Does that even count? She can't quite decide, really.]

In your words, does accustomed, mean used too it? Because if it does, I understand that, completely. I was quite accustomed to it. Until my own traumatic event came too haunt me again.

[Well, it did happen again, only a little different. He hated that he was remembering it.]

The last time I was drunk, I think I fell and hit mt head really hard. After picking someone up at a bar of course. Wasn't a good night.

Yes, used to it. Drinking isn't something I've do often, and sex is a rather rare experience nowadays, too.

[She snorts, just a little, and smirks at him.]

Tell me, was it Don Paulo that you picked up? Because I'm afraid I don't think you can do much worse than that. Though, it might have been a better night if I had hit my head, because at least then I might not remember both the decision I made in the first place and the utter shambles I made of the act itself.

[Groaning, she leans her head back against the back of the chair.]

I think it might have been the most mortifying experience of my life, you know. I'd be interested to know whether you've ever done anything quite so embarrassing, double.

Yes, I was quite accustomed too it as well. Not lately though. Again, we know how that story goes.

Oh no, I didn't pick up Don Paolo. No, it wasn't one anyone would know. I have their number though. It didn't even phase me to call.

[He smirks when she asks her. Something embarrassing...it's harder than he would imagine to think of something.]

My first kiss was with a man. Is that embarrassing enough?

You see, the Hershel in my time, I hate it say it, a nice man. A gentleman, really. We were best friends when we were little and I just kissed him. I don't even remember why, but I remember him being really puzzled.

Is kissing someone of your own gender embarrassing enough to compare with Don Paulo? Hardly, double. Besides, I've kissed girls. I've kissed Layton, for that matter, so I think it rather matches up.

[She considers.]

I'm not sure I can even remember my own first kiss...

Well, I don't know, double, many people could say otherwise. I'm glad you don't.

[He actually has kissed men more frequently then he wants to admit, but he doesn't really want to explain his oversexed exploits. Besides, there were too many of them.]

God, I had to be seven. My stepfather caught me though, and he punished me for it.

[Oh, there's that wretched man.]

Well, I've been rather liberal in my own affections, in the past. Men, women... it's never mattered to me, if I'm honest.

[She frowns a little, watching her double.]

Your stepfather... I suppose I should be glad that I don't remember my parents.

Well I can understand that I guess. For me it's an acceptance I guess.

[He smirks again more melancholically this time.]

I wouldn't say that, my mother is a wonderful woman...so is the man she's married to right now. Just, her second husband was a terrible person. I don't know. I think I'm done dealing with him.

[Or he hoped. The truth was, he wasn't sure.]

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