(2018-03-19) Think Happy Thoughts
Think Happy Thoughts
Summary: Bea and Eddie put and end to all their fussin' and a'feudin'.
Date: 2018-03-19
Related: None
Player Characters: Bea, Eddie

-| 6th Floor - Brundle Investigations - Cahuenga Building - The Bay |


A room of hazy lights and lots of shadows. A trio of windows would offer a spectacular view of the bay, but they are hung with nicotine yellow blinds that seem permanently glued in the 'closed' position judging by how speckled they are with flyshit and the permanent bends and tears in the old plastic where someone has roughly bent them apart. Over and over and over again.

There are shapes in the half-dark. An uncomfortable looking loveseat and rickety side-table faces a bulky oak desk with a large armchair behind it. On top of the desk is a crossword collection. In a corner is a cheap office chair and a smaller rolltop bearing a beige computer that looks to be from the 80s, along with a matching elder coffee maker. Next to the door is a coat rack, and numerous boxes line the walls, several seemingly permanently employed as makeshift filing systems. Yellowed photos adorn the walls. The magazines on the side table are years out of date and contribute to the musty smell of the place. Somewhere a hidden radio plays jazz made sibilant with white noise.


"Mean," Eddie says, not for the first time since he let Bea in this afternoon, "just mean. You didn't have to go and do that, you know, I already said I'd talk." He's been sort of pouting since he opened up the door, that way he does when he feels hard done by. It didn't keep him from waving her in, or anything, but he's still going to gripe about it. "It took me years to collect all those takeout boxes, probably. And the flies. My poor little buddies, where are they supposed to raise their families? Ida wouldn't stop laughing." He scowls at the memory, and lights another cigarette, spitefully determined to fill the room with smoke. He's even got the fans turned off despite the early spring humidity, just to keep it hanging in the air.

Bea listens with a mischevious little smirk. "Oh sure, Eddie, except I told those flies about a nice compost pile, so they'll be fine. And anyway, you deserved it, and I warned you. So just you stop complaining." She pushes the basket of goodies she's brought toward him, "Anyway, I brought these, as like a, umm…gesture of goodwill." Clearly a term she was given to describe this particular basket of goodies, rather than one she came up with on her own. "And besides, aren't you glad if it made Ida laugh? I bet she has the /nicest/ laugh." She sighs a little as she imagines it, perhaps working on that platonic girl crush she's got on the pretty wasp. "Anyway, isn't it nice to start fresh, like…a painter with a new canvas." She waves her hand extravagantly, imitating the swipes of a brush.

"If I ever stop complaining, stick an axe in me. It's obviously an imposter." Eddie gathers himself stubbornly into a tighter huff, but he lets it collapse a little as he leans forward to start digging through the basket. "Believe it or not, I never had any trouble, getting beautiful women to laugh in my face. But I guess you've got a point. I'd been meaning to make some improvements, anyway." He can rebuild it, grosser than before. She can see him making plans for it already. "If you'll set it up, I'll meet with Whitley. Why not? She already knows it all already, after half an hour talking with you. She's probably got our dental records and everything."

Bea laughs a little at that, agreeing, "For sure, I would know it was some fake if you weren't complaining and moping all the time," Bea agrees, "And that fake would definitely see my axe's sharp side." The basket, when dug through, contains all the odd-shaped candies from a few days of candy making, every imperfectly covered chocolate cream and wonky-shaped hard candy. There's also fresh baked bread, some very out of season fruit at the peak of ripeness, a very well contained piece of extra-stinky cheese, and a large jar of comb honey. "Anyway, I will tell Lillian you want to meet her, and will be /nice/," A warning glare is given, "And anyway, I didn't tell her everything, but she told us a lot, and about like…The last crown, it is in some memories, and we for sure weren't supposed to forget everything. But still, I think I may be able to help with that part, since I went for just a little walk into the hedge, and found a tree that was all memories." She looks quite smug for a moment, then sad, "But then it just burned up, but I promised I would fix it, or make it grow again at least, like it was before, just the glistening woods…Since for sure it is not as nice as just like a burning forest, with a river you can't even get close to.." A thought percolates and she grins, "But maybe I could take that fire-girl with me on some trip, and she could help me with some fishing."

Eddie can't help but be mollified by a spread like that, and in particular seems amused and a little touched by all of the irregular candies. He holds up one particularly mishappen example for examination, inspecting all the lumps and bubbles of its surface before he pops it into his mouth. He still manages to make a face at the 'nice' word, but it's mostly for show. The look of concern when she starts talking about going into the Hedge, though, that's genuine. "Take somebody, anyway," he frowns, stopping short of volunteering. "In memories? Those are in pretty short supply, these days. What's that even mean, anyway? Has she got any clue how to find the thing?"

Bea shrugs and says, "Too late to take somebody, but for sure I am okay, and just got a little bit singed is all, since it was a lot of fire. But still, even now, I am just fine in the thorns by myself." She puffs up a bit with pride at that, her wings abuzz. She's probably never heard the phrase 'pride comes before the fall'. "Anyway, she just said, in memories. Since it is like the crown of memories, and /not/ some crown for the faetouched or something, so don't go giving it to Tyla if we do find it, since she will just hog it like the others." She takes a breath, then says, "But still, I found some ring in that memory tree, and am gonna figure out what it does, but I think probably it is a fire ring, since it was in the fire river, except /before/ it got the river in it, the tree said it was just like a memory tree…memory /of/ the tree, even though I could climb it and everything, until I took the ring out of the river, at least. Do you think I have the summer ring, to go with the summer crown?"

"The only accessories I'd like to give Tyla are a set of concrete shoes," Eddie sneers. He might not mean that, exactly, but he's clearly none too happy with the Faetouched. He listens to the rest of Bea's story, curious but a little lost, feeding his brain with more sugar to center his thoughts. "We never learned too much about the rings, but that sounds as likely as anything. You might get Scorse to help, he knows a little about Tokens, I told you I've got him looking into that gun. I'll send Penny that way, too. I hope this thing isn't in any of my memories. I've got a hard time holding on to them, these days."

Bea nods and considers that, "Well, maybe, if I can just get back to that burning forest, then I can maybe dig up some root of that memory tree, and /maybe/ grow a new one, which /might/ help with something? But only I can't say for sure. And that is a good idea, to talk to Scorse. And I want to visit with him anyway, since it's been a while. But I think maybe it isn't in any of our memories, exactly, at least not if it was like that tree at all, but just like…" She puts one hand on top of the other, "Like layers of some cake, and maybe we just have to find the buttercream that is in the middle."

"It's all a little beyond me," Eddie admits, not enjoying it. "Memory trees and burning rivers and all of it. Wish we had more Autumns around. But if making something grow will help, I'm sure you can get it done." He takes a last puff off his cigarette and crushes it out and doesn't light another one. "In the meantime, if you need any rocks turned over, that's my area. Why can't it ever be a puzzle box, or something?"

Bea gives Eddie a sympathetic look, "For sure, a puzzle box would be nice, and maybe we will find one, once we get the hedge all cleared out and can have some goblin markets back around town. But still, always there are some rocks to turn. too many these days, it seems like. Sometimes it seems like we are just in a quarry." She bites her lip, then asks, hesitantly but full of concern, "You aren't in any trouble, are you? With that Malloy detective? I sent him a basket of goodies, just to try to sweeten him up a little."

Eddie looks away and chews that over a while. He doesn't like the taste of it very much, and when he's done he shakes his head. "I don't know, yet. Probably he doesn't like me very much, which could make things difficult professionally, but I don't see him hauling me in. Not for long, anyway. He can't prove anything, and there's nothing really to prove. It might be time for me to talk with our friends with the necklace, again. Maybe they could straighten things out, if I played it right."

Bea considers that, nodding "Maybe. I don't know much about them, that you are talking about. But maybe that would be more dangerous, since that Malloy, he seems like he would get real nosy if he thought something was fishy, and might get himself into trouble, and with the thorns so overgrown, it'd be hard to help him if he got into /that/ kind of trouble. But still, maybe you are right, and if you need any help with that, just let me know, since for sure, I always have a little bit saved up in case you need bail…" She pauses a moment, then adds as an afterthought, "Or anyone else."

"I don't know," Eddie says, a little dreamily, "maybe I ought to confess. Twenty-five-to-life might be kind of relaxing, after the past couple of months." After a second he smiles, to show he's joking, since the way he's been acting lately it seems like he probably should. "He seems like a good cop, as much as there is such a thing. If I can throw him off the trail without throwing him under the bus, I'll do that. You keep trying it your way and I'll keep it trying it mine and something's sure to work." An uncharacteristic piece of optimism, but he seems to mean it.

Bea grins at Eddie and hops up, giving Eddie a hug. "For sure, that is a good plan. And just remember Eddie, everything will be fine, and just what you think is what you get, so keep thinking like that, that 'something's sure to work out' and for sure it will."

Eddie takes the hug across his desk, a little awkwardly, but he likes it better than having his car cleaned. "'All shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well,'" he mutters, shaking his head. "What you think is what you get, huh? That would explain a lot about the state of my life, I guess. Why not?" He gathers up his goodie-bag and rises up behind the desk. Probably planning to use it for the first brick in a grand new tower of garbage, to replace what he has lost. "I better get back to work. You had, too, I guess. I'll try and think some happy thoughts along the way, but you might have to pick up the slack a little."

Bea smiles as she heads for the door, "Oh sure, Eddie, and that is my biggest job always, to be thinking happy thoughts all the time." She gives him one last, quick hug before slipping out. Soon, the jingle of ice cream van music can be heard as she drives away.

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