Obscene Symphony

Dogs of the Faithful

Ooh, I like it.

Ready to Fall

Mitchell stared into the dark glass of his window - there wasn't a mirror in the joint - scrutinizing every detail of his face: the darkening circles under his eyes, the dull hair hanging over his brow, the gaunt look he was starting to acquire. Still, it was nothing new - though he knew he'd have to do something about it soon. By the way he judged it, he only had a few days at best before his condition would start to become... Unmanageable.

New cities were always a bitch for that.

Sighing, Mitchell fetched his laptop and set himself up at the large desk against the window in the middle of the open-concept dining room. Sinking back into his leather desk chair, he pulled out a notepad and started half-assedly checking his stocks, recording new share values on the pad to later be drafted into his ledger.

Minutes passed and turned into hours as Mitchell tried desperately to find something, anything to occupy himself with. He checked stocks, he read news, he dusted and cleaned his cat's dishes (again), but nothing could keep his mind off his cravings for very long. Get a hold of yourself, he scolded himself, you've had more than enough time to learn how to deal with this, tonight should be no different.

It really was strange, normally he had perfectly fine control over himself this many days out, what had changed now? He would chalk it up to the stress of the move, but he couldn't convince himself of that. What, then, was driving him so crazy?

A high-pitched squeal from outside his window caught his attention, and he turned with unsettling speed toward the source of the noise. The culprit, a steel wire shining in the light from his kitchen, stirred something odd inside him. It was the wire to the window washer's cart, and he found himself hoping he'd see the same face as the first time.

He gave himself only a moment to hope before scolding himself for his foolishness. Not only was it ridiculous to pine after a man he'd seen exactly one time through his window, but he'd resolved to give up on dating long ago.

And yet, just before the cart reached his window, Mitchell made sure to arrange himself at his desk in such a way that he could discreetly check the window while still looking busy.

Ready to Fall

Looks like we're even then! I'll do my best to get a reply up soon, if I can plough through all the homework that needs to be completed tonight.

Ready to Fall

Hey man, sorry I haven't replied yet, I've been pretty busy. I also can't guarantee I'll be able to reply this weekend, there's a con in my city and I'll be helping my friend with her vendor stall. I'll do my best to write something tonight, but I'm gonna try and get ahead with homework so I don't fall behind this weekend.

Ready to Fall

Nah, you're good. Ty is adorable!

Ready to Fall

Mitchell couldn't help but smirk as the window washer saluted and took to his work. For a moment, he watched the suds slide down his window with a mite of the childlike joy that comes with seeing something from an uncommon point of view, but soon enough he caught his gaze wandering to the washer instead of the window.

This man, Tyler, looked like he should have been in a fireman's calendar, not on a swinging beam twenty-six stories above street level at 3 o'clock in the morning. He had a certain rugged look to him that Mitchell didn't often see in his circles. He couldn't help but wonder why this one hadn't taken up bar tending - the tips he would get would double his wage. Mitchell shrugged as he returned to his book. Maybe this job paid better.

As the washer did his work, Mitchell found it harder and harder to keep his eyes on the page. He found himself reading the same line over and over as he tried to catch a glimpse in his periphery; Yeah, he thought critically, this is way less invasive and creepy than actually looking at him.

Embarrassed and annoyed with himself, Mitchell got up and busied himself with the coffee maker in his kitchen, open to the rest of the room and still very much in sight of the window. How ridiculous he was being, he thought, acting like a nervous preteen at his first boy-girl dance. This man was a professional and probably couldn't care less who saw him work or what they did while he was there. And yet, even as he scolded himself, he went about pushing buttons on a coffee machine he'd never used before in his life.

The few minutes it took for Tyler to get the window spotless felt like an hour, and Mitchell was feeling rather annoyed at himself for acting so childish. For his penance, he took a sheet of paper and a marker from a drawer in the kitchen, scrawled something in cursive, and pressed it to the window, tapping lightly to catch Tyler's attention.



Mitchell watched the beam rise as Tyler left, before going back to the kitchen and dumping his first pot of coffee down the sink.

The Dance of Dragons - (ASoI&F) (GoT) - Interest Check/Placeholder

@EricRP Thank you very much for the offer! I'll definitely consider it.

The Dance of Dragons - (ASoI&F) (GoT) - Interest Check/Placeholder

I'm so tempted but I don't know if I could keep track of so many characters and so much activity!

Ready to Fall

Thank you!!

Ready to Fall

Hey, I was thinking about what kind of conflict we could introduce into the plot later on, cause idk about you, but I find that romance alone tends to get boring. Luckily there are lots of opportunities to introduce conflict!

So I was thinking that since Mitchell just moved in, in about a week strange deaths start popping up around the city, roughly once every 7 days, all with the same pattern: high risk victims (often with criminal records) killed, bodies burned in secluded urban areas (scarcely traveled alleys, junkyards, causeways, I'm not sure what LA has by way of seedy city areas but I'm sure there are plenty).

So maybe Tyler comes across one of these alley fires on his night off and catches Mitchell in the act?

Detail

So maybe, either before or after Tyler and Mitchell meet in person for the first time (maybe one asks the other on a date through the window, idk) Tyler, on one of his nights off (likely spent nocturnally, cause it would be pointless to mess up his sleep schedule for the following week) happens to be near one of these places (let's say an alley) when he spots a fire, and finds the hot guy from the penthouse next to the fire and covered in blood. Tyler, being a rational human, is terrified, probably runs away and probably tries to call 911. Now, Mitchell can't let that happen, so he chases Tyler down and knocks him out. Tyler wakes up inside the penthouse (specifically in a room not visible from the windows) and Mitchell needs to spill his secret convince him not to go to the police, because he really likes him, and would rather not have to kill him to keep his secret.

This is just an idea that hit me like a train just now, let me know what you think or if you have other ideas!