as_damaged | ☎ voicemail

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❝You've reached Allison Cameron, please leave a message.❞

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[ooc: you know the drill, if you need her and there's no recent post &c &c. whatever. ♥♥♥]

[That gets a bit of a look, albeit somewhat amused. There are different kinds of violence, and there are different kinds of biting. Harming others isn't in her nature; at least, so she'd like to believe. It gets harder and harder to tell herself that, here; maybe she's just getting desensitized.]

I doubt it'd make a difference. I think the deities get a kickback, I had to have one of mine replaced months ago.

Oh, so you're planning to break mine down again.

[He folds his arms across the table, expression turning more serious.]

You told me what happened to yours. [Eventually. Eventually seems like it could be a subtitle to the whole place. You get used to it, eventually. Everyone eventually leaves. Eventually something's going to kill you, or you'll fuck or fuck with the wrong person. It's an edge-of-the-seat exercise in waiting for the worst, and that's not how he likes to live. Things don't go to hell without him putting up a fight. If he's dying and this is somehow the last gasp, he'd like to think he was fighting for just one more.

How to fight this place he hasn't figured out yet. Not the heroics other people talk about but pure, selfish struggle. He's got to get out.

In the meantime, there might be one fight he can win.]

I'll let you pay for the work on mine if you'll let me do something about that.

[She's planning nothing of the sort. Even if she felt certain Angela wasn't coming back-- which she doesn't; not sharing Chase's disappointment, she can't share his pessimism-- it wouldn't be right. Rebound relationships rarely last, and she wants more than that. A handful of awkward dinners after her husband passed away proved that point; and after that she'd moved away, and a good friend became a mere acquaintance. Given the options, it seems better not to pursue him. They can be friends. Somehow.

She rolls her eyes at his 'deal,' though honestly, it's almost funny. She gets to pay for his door and give in to his nagging? What a break. For the first time she wonders if finding her a roommate isn't an out for him, a way to pass the responsibility for her safety on to someone else so he doesn't have to think about it.

But it's no more than her own little exercise in self-pity. He'll still call. She's as certain of it as one can be of anything, here.]

Who do you have in mind?

Borrow Eden for a week.

[He takes a sip of his coffee and lays his cards on the table, metaphorically speaking.

Strictly speaking, Eden can be as much a threat as she is a reassurance. The girl is au-fait with more makes of weapon than he was aware existed, and that fact was slammed home by the other hole put in the door the other day. But she tried to kill him once, and he got past it. It'll be two people he'll have to keep an eye on, but at least they'll be in the same place.

Both of them, he thinks, could use the company.]

See how it goes. If you like the company, you could ask her to stay.

[Actually? It isn't a bad idea. Her protests die half-formed, and she pauses to consider it, taking a sip. Cameron tends to consider the girl part of the 'family,' so to speak, even if they aren't awfully close. Not only because they work together, but because she puts up with House's insanity; not many people do. She's inclined to sympathize with her fellow sufferers.]

Have you spoken to her about it?

[No.]

I've put out feelers. Is that a yes, so long as she's up for it?

[He thinks she will be, if he can broach the subject without it seeming like he's trying to be rid of her. He's sent Eden on Cameron-related reconnaissance missions before, the times he's wanted to get through to her but known he'd be the last person she'd open the door for. And she works for House. That makes her at the very least a comrade-in-arms.]

I'm willing to give it a try.

[She's not against having a roommate on principle, and it's not as though Eden has nothing to gain. They could both use the company, the space; and certainly given past events Cameron doesn't mind the idea of keeping an eye on her.]

[They can both think they're helping each other. The cards aren't so hard to play when Chase has both their aces. He nods, grips the table like he's on his way to get up.]

Then I'll run it by her, let you know. I should... really be getting back now.

[She can see it as helping Eden and doing Chase a favor, laying an old argument to rest. She leans back as he leans in to stand, nodding; honestly it's a bit of a relief. She won't avoid him, but right now, she'd like to.]

Sure. I'll... talk to you.

[She pauses, as though she's going to say something more, and doesn't.]

[And he hesitates, waiting for whatever fails to come. He's still got that headache, and a list of people to avoid, or avoid apologising too. Still got an apartment he's not really going to clear yet, and a dog to walk and feed. He looks over her head, where the clock on the wall confirms that he's going to be a couple of minutes late to sign back in, and sighs.

With a nod, he takes the second half of his sandwich for the road.]

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