multiversallogs | [OPEN] :: Let a bird lean in the hole and sing

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[OPEN] :: Let a bird lean in the hole and sing

Who: Sebastian LeMat, Velcro, & YOU.
What: Apartment hunting, working in the yard, etc.
Where: Sobek Croix, the Hellsing Guild Hall, but if you want anywhere else, I'm agreeable, just let me know.
When: Coardi

When Bellatrix arrived, he'd acquiesced and given up his old flat in favour of the safety of living in Hellsing's guildhall, but it was only ever meant to be a temporary measure. Months have passed since the first time the Mark went up and Hermione's arrival has only served to drive home the fact that he needs to have his own space away from other people. He was and remains glad that he'd been able to offer a safe place to stay for a friend, but can't entirely shake the lingering worry that he unsettles her.

Should one be out and about in the city, there are a variety of places Sebastian can be found: working in the greenhouse, reading through the papers and calling to arrange viewings for apartments, being out in Sobek Croix itself to look at apartments, or having a bit of peace and quiet reading by the fire in the Hellsing common room.

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If there was something Martha missed from the Barge it was having a sense of community. Oh, there were other things and people whom she missed, but she missed the feeling of belonging, of having people to know and people who knew her. With her husband's decision to out himself, as it were, Martha was feeling the lack of community especially keenly. It was odd really to be the one here who had less contacts, and who knew fewer people.

She really needed to fix that, Martha decided.

The best way to fix it, she decided, was to find those people who were around her and whom Hellsing had already considered trustworthy. Like UNIT and the Barge before it, Martha trusted the people at Hellsing just by their association with the organization. Well, at least until it proved to be wrong to do so. Perhaps she was a bit too trusting after all.

Moving through the Hellsing common room, Martha wondered if Hermione was around, and she didn't see her. Instead, as she spotted Sebastian, Martha decided that there was someone who she would introduce herself too. Quickly walking over to him, Martha smiled and asked, "Excuse me, have you seen Hermione?"

Sebastian looks up and marks his place in his book with a finger, before shaking his head and answering: "No, not recently. I think she's found work and is off working through whatever orientation they do."

Or putting their orienteering through their paces.

"If you don't want to send her a message through the network, I can pass something along?"

"Oh good, you know her." Martha's smile was a bit easier at that, more personal. "No, that's alright, I'd just wanted to see if she was here.

After a moment, Martha extended a hand towards him. "I'm Martha, Martha Jones. I don't believe we've met yet. I'm working as a doctor here at Hellsing."

A little book juggling and Sebastian is able to offer his own hand to shake. He's missing the top two joints of his ring and pinky finger on his right hand and should Martha balk at it, he won't be offended. She may be able to recognize that the injury is a few years old and likely caused by a crushing blow.

"Sebastian LeMat, handyman."

Martha didn't balk at the way his hand was; she was used to seeing that sort of thing as a doctor, and it wasn't something that she'd shy away from. Instead she shook his hand with a careful but firm shake, noting how she expected the hand to have been wounded. It wasn't something that she'd comment on, but she noted it for later.

"It's nice to meet you, Sebastian. Have you been here long?" The question was a safe one, considering how many people had been stolen or borrowed from their worlds and dragged into this one.

"Since Ceidary," he replies as if it's perfectly natural for him to use the local time keeping method. Sebastian has always had a knack for adapting and blending into a new society.

It's entirely possible that his name might've come up when Martha was brought on board as a good example of what magical injuries look like. McCoy gave him a physical and there are probably some bizarre records somewhere in the infirmary that list conditions like: marble knee (green, white veining), patch of owl feathers on back of left shoulder, extensive nerve damage, etc.

"And you? Please, have a seat, if you'd like."

Martha hadn't yet gotten into the habit of thinking like a local. She knew of the differences in months and days of course, but she still found herself needing to do the mental conversions in order to combine the two. March, so a great deal longer than herself. "I arrived in Eliaderen, so you've a bit of a jump on me."

A beat, and Martha sat down. "Thanks." Now that she was thinking about it, she was putting names together with some of the research she'd done on medical records here. Dr. McCoy hadn't been there when she'd arrived, but his records had been.

"And you're settling in well?" He's decided that they ought to talk a little and shows this by putting a proper slip of paper bookmark into his book. Should she look over, it's a novel with a plain green and copper cover with a picture of a caduceus entitled 'The Cunning Man'.

"Yeah. I mean it's still a bit weird, but thankfully I'm coming from a life where weird tends to be the status quo." There was a bit of a chuckle, and then Martha considered. "I'm lucky, though, people I know from my old life are here, and my husband arrived, even if I didn't remember who he was at the time."

"As awful as it is to be thrown into a strange world, I think that it's very good to have someone with you that you can share your life with. Those of us that came alone only have our cohort to rely upon and really getting to know and trust strangers, even those supposedly chosen by the gods, takes time," he says gently. Sebastian has made good friends in their cohort, but it hasn't been quick or easy for him.

"What do you think?"

Despite her tenure with the Admiral, Martha wasn't at all sure how she was finding the concept of having gods choose to bring them here. It settled wrong for her, this idea that they were selected for a reason. Still, she couldn't deny the truth in his words. Nodding, Martha spoke. "I think you're right, and I'm very lucky. I'm doubly lucky in that I knew versions of people back where I'm from. It's not them, but it's just like them, I guess."

Sebastian listens to what Martha says before nodding and taking his time to formulate his own reply. "I've met more than one alternate of someone I'd once called friend and, again, I say that you've been fortunate that those you've met aligned with those you knew."

"I know that alternates with facial hair are evil, but what do you do about someone who in your homeworld already has a beard?" That is a very poor joke, Sebastian.

Though the joke was a bad one, Martha laughed. It was a sound that she didn't expect, given the history that she had with mirror-verses. "Well, it would be reflected, yeah? So they wouldn't have a beard. There would be loads of leather involved, however. Whenever good people go bad they always seem to find themselves with a large amount of leather or an overabundance of eyeliner." Martha Jones, pop-culture scholar is firmly in evidence at this point.

"Or gold lamé," he says with some certainty. Sebastian wasn't very good with pop culture, but once he'd left the wizarding world there were a few staples of modern, Western television that he'd been introduced to. While he had a profoundly negative reaction to and couldn't finish watching ~~Star Wars~~ 'Starkiller', he did get a kick out of ~~Star Trek~~ 'Wagontrain to the Stars'.

The certainty made Martha grin quickly. "Only in the eighties, really. After that, gold lamé means having a horrible fashion sense rather than evilness. Or possibly that the person's more than a little bit mental." Martha loved movies in most forms, and she was having a bit of withdrawal from not having them around.

"I'm sure there's a Hellsing memo on this." When he laughs, Sebastian looks a great deal younger than he usually comes across as and Velcro, who has been sleeping at his feet, wuffles and finally decides to join the conversation. He's not wearing his service vest today, but it's possible that Martha has seen the two of them about the guild hall and is aware that Velcro is a working dog as much as a companion.

"Well, if there isn't, I'll be sure to write one. And I'll add an additional dissertation how hair and eyeliner are important ways to know if you've got an evil double." There was dramatic emphasis on the words before she laughed.

Velcro's arrival is met with a smile, because Martha misses pets, particularly her own cats. She'd seen him before, but she knew better than to touch a service dog who was wearing a vest. Now that he wasn't, Martha quickly asked, "may I pet him?"

"Of course. Martha, this is Velcro. Velcro, go say hullo." Oh gosh, oh gosh, if there are going to be pettings, Velcro is going to be the happiest of dogs. Such snuffling! Such tail-waggings! These are his rights because he is the best dog and has been repeatedly told so.

Beaucerons (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beauceron) are a medium-sized dog with a good temperment and it's clear that this one is very well-trained indeed.

Edited 2011-12-16 04:11 (UTC)

Martha laughed when Velcro came over and started to sniff, and he quickly moved her fingers over his head and scratched him behind his ears making little cooing sounds. "Who is the cutest puppy? Are you the cutest puppy? Yes you are. Yes you are."

"He was in training to be an airport security dog, but took a knock and can't sniff properly." Strange, but true. There's a reasonably high percentage of security dogs that fail out of their training for getting hit in the head and losing their sense of smell.

"I used to volunteer at a job office with a man who worked with trained dogs and that's how I lucked out getting him." In his voice, there's an open, honest affection for his dog and a bit of nostalgia for his old life in Newcastle.

"I didn't know that could happen." Martha looked over in a concerned way before she pet the dog some more, as if she was reassuring him that she didn't have any judgments about the fact that he'd lost his sense of smell.

"He's a big sweetie." The words were announced fondly, and Martha scratched him again for emphasis before she smiled at Sebastian. "You really did luck out. He's adorable."

"And he knows it." Velcro snuffles against Martha's hand a bit more before flopping down on her feet. He is an excellent foot warmer and takes his work very seriously.

"I'm glad that whatever force pulled us here kept us together."

"Most of the time animals do, I think." Martha's feet were fairly cold in general, so a feet warmer was always needed and appreciated. She grinned at him and then reached down and petted him once more before her hands settled into her lap.

"Me too. He's brilliant. How do you like it here?"

"I've work, friends, I don't want for anything, and opportunities that I wouldn't otherwise have if I was in Britain. For all that, I am grateful, but I intend to return home one day." While Sebastian has unfinished business, if he never does find a way back, it won't weigh too heavily on him.

"And you?"

"I'm glad that I've got Sev, but I'm worried about the place where we had left. We were working on this place called the Barge, and there were people who were dependent on me." Martha paused, because she was worried about the fact that there wasn't that many people around the infirmary there, and there wasn't anyone whom she trusted with it.

"And I'd like to eventually get home to my family."

There's a subtle shift in his expression that suggests Sebastian has certain opinions on the importance of family.

"Funny thing is, while I've people I'd consider family back home, those that depend on me are here," he says mildly. "And, if you ever need anything repaired in the medical wing or wherever you're staying, do let me know?"

"I will. Thanks. We're staying over in Sobek Croix, we've a cottage there. I like it. It's weird, but in a brilliant way. You're welcome to come if you like. Both of you, of course. I'm a bit rubbish at cooking, but we'll figure something out for dinner anyway."

"Thank you," he replies with practised ease. "Just let me know if and when anything needs work. I'm not particularly specialized - no electrician or plumber - but I can handle the basics and refer you to someone fair."

In an ideal world, he'll never be called over, but it would be far more out of place if he didn't offer.

"Brilliant. And if you ever need a hand medically, just let me know. I can come to you." In some ways, Martha never really got over being a sort of back street doctor for some of the people aboard the Barge who just never really trusted the infirmary.

"At the very least I'm going to bother you so I can play with Velcro."

"Back beyond the gardens, there's an agility course that I usually run him through a couple times a week. If you want to see how that's done, I think we'd both like it." Velcro snuffles in agreement. While he does get a good deal of time 'off work', Sebastian does try to keep his training up. A dog might not be too much use against a wizard, but it never hurts to be prepared.

"I'd love that. I really would. And considering how often I'm here, it'll be a standing date 'til the two of you get sick of me." Martha scratches Velcro once again, and she grinned at Sebastian.

"Thanks, you've been a big help."

"Hardly." He's just a man with a dog and a book sitting by the fire; not really, the most helpful or useful of gents one might find at Hellsing. "Nonetheless, it's been a pleasure."

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[OPEN] :: Let a bird lean in the hole and sing

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fff, typo.

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