milliways_bar | (no subject)

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Ramon's had a lot on his mind lately, not that he'll probably admit it. It does explain the rather distant look on his face though, as he toys with a tequila in his booth.

Distractions may or may not be welcome, depending on what he thinks of you. But that shouldn't be a deterrent to anyone wanting to talk to him.

[OOC: ~~May be occasional slowtime to feed child or self but other than that, here until about 1am GMT. Tag anytime!~~ Annnnd, must beg slowtime pls. Already stayed much longer than I intended to! :D Will continue threads tomorrow. Thanks all!]

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"I can see how that would work, I guess."

Mary Anne worries her lower lip between her teeth.

"Please don't take this the wrong way, người yêu? But you aren't exactly a diplomat. And if he needed somebody else there to play those wacky political games that Amber seems to run on...Any idea just how many years it was for him out there?"

His face goes cold. The last thing he needed to hear was someone taking Random's side in this.

'He wont say, exactly,' he says, in a tight voice.

Behind his anger he's reminding himself that it must have been even longer than he'd imagined otherwise why wouldn't Random say for sure? But he's hardly going to admit that worry to Mary Anne now.

Well shit.

So much for trying to come up with an explanation for things without sounding like she was on Random's side.

Her initial reaction is sad, followed quickly by somewhat pissed.

"Oh, don't you dare," she murmurs.

"I'm on your side here--I've always been on your side, but dammit, Random's my friend and he loves you and I can't believe he would do something he knows would hurt you like this without a damn good reason. To say nothing of how ever the fuck long it's been for him and the fact that we're trying to play catch-up."

She takes a somewhat militant swig from the tequila bottle, frowning.

Loves me and has always refused to officially marry me. Which was OK, until now.

'What difference does the time make?' he flares back. 'He says he's not fucking her anyway so what does he need from her that I can't give him?'

"For all we know, he hadn't seen you for a hundred fucking years," she snaps.

"And if he's not fucking her, then he gets the celibacy merit badge and that still doesn't explain what's got your panties in a wad."

'If he hasn't seen me for a hundred years then that still doesn't explain what he's doing with her, does it?'

He is less snapping, more pissed.

'What the fuck do you think the problem is?'

"Have you tried asking him what he was doing?"

She scowls. "I don't fucking know. He's not cheating on you, unless you think that this fake-ass marriage is as important to him as yours is."

Random's told him a dozen times already about how it's all a fake but it doesn't help.

He scowls back. 'I don't think he's cheating. That's not the point.'

Random's his. That's the point. He doesn't like that there are people out there who don't know that.

"So then what is?"

She's got her guesses, but she's going to try one last time to see if the man will articulate anything.

Not that she's got all her hopes staked on it.

Apart from the fact that this Ramon, he's also a man. Articulation on matters like this aren't his strong point. So Mary Anne gets a withering look.

'He fucks off for years without any warning and comes back, says he's been gone for years, he's a king now, and married and different. Isn't that reason enough?'

She's put up with his withering looks for years; it's built up an immunity.

Mary Anne just arches an eyebrow.

"And you thinking staying away for that long and all the rest was his idea?"

'I didn't say that. I know what he's like about Amber.'

And he would have done the same thing himself. It all boils down to one thing. Ramon's jealous.

Amber and the woman (Vialle she has a name they always have names) and time and a crown and Random being torn in half--

She smiles faintly, fingertip tracing the rim of the bottle.

"You never were one to share."

'You noticed?'

It's dripping with sarcasm, which is of course his way of trying to disguise just how right she is.

'And I'm not sharing.'

Random's his.

Mary Anne's face says 'duh.'

"Exactly. He's not sleeping with her and he doesn't love her, so...how is she infringing on your territory?"

Ramon sighs and runs a hand over his face, as though steeling himself to explain something that should be obvious.

'He's been with her for years. Probably more years than he's been with me by now.'

Vialle has a part of him - the Amber part - that Ramon will never have. That place continues to come between them and its almost the worst thing that Ramon can understand why Random feels the way he does about it. He's much the same about Colombia and his business there. But it doesn't make this any easier to take.

She nods once.

"Okay. Fine, so he's known her longer. Is he pining away for her or something, or does he seem glad to be back with you and want to make up for lost time?"

He looks away. This is entirely designed to hide the smile that just sprung up involuntarily at the thought of just how Random's making up for lost time. Not that he's bashful, just because he's still pissed at her.

'Who turned you into Freud? He can be with me all he wants but in the end, Amber's his home now and its her he's going home to.'

He's the vacation lover now. Or that's what he feels like.

"I ever turn into Freud, I'll eat my gun; I'm just trying to figure this shit out. Now, Amber is Amber," she says, taking another swig of tequila.

"It's like...on its own weird level of commitment for him, with way more baggage tied up in it than I ever want to know about. But I was under the impression that home was Haven."

'It was,' he mutters, looking down at the table top.

'But not now. He says he'll get away from Amber 'when he can' - what does that tell you?'

"It tells me that he's the king," she says softly.

"And that as much as he'd like to be at home--his real home, where you are--he can't stay away from Amber if him not being there means the whole place might fall down around their ears."

She rolls the bottle between her palms, takes a sip.

"From what he told me, they're doing good to be hanging on by their fingernails right now. I'm sure once it stops being two minutes past the Apocalypse over there, he'll be able to get away more, but right now all the shit's still freshly hit the fan and that means he needs to be there."

She passes the bottle back across the table.

"Doesn't make it right, though. For either of you."

He hates it when he's pissed off about something and then someone comes along and applies logic to the situation. Especially when they're laying out what he already knows. It makes it seem childish for wanting to yell that he doesn't care, he just wants Random with him.

But he doesn't. He just has a drink and shrugs sullenly.

'Not like I have any choice but to put up with it.'

"Afraid not."

She smirks a little. "Hell, I take you to go crash the party, if I could get in the damn door."

'You can't even get there?'

Random would kill him if he crashed in anywy. His whole reasoning for not letting him into Amber very often is because he wants him safe, he says.

'Thought you could go anywhere.'

"Anywhere but there," she says.

"I remember Random saying something once about only Amberites being able to find Amber, and he's right; I got bored once and tried. I could get to the Shadow right next door, but no further. It was sort of like putting your forehead against a wall and then trying to still walk forward. In the end, you just have a headache and feel pretty stupid."

She hasn't tried for Arden yet. She isn't sure she would want to succeed.