RP: The Information Round-About

[fleur_de_alice]

Date: Sunday, 18 Dec 2011
Characters: Alice Langley, Gus Purdue (NPC)
Location: Earth Bones, Sundance Square
Status: Private
Summary: Confusion leads to unusual measures.
Completion: Incomplete

Comments

[elliot_winters]

Gus had thought about it long and hard before finally deciding to call up Alice. He had expected Elliot to come back from the wedding happy, especially since he had gotten more time with his girlfriend, but instead it had been just about the opposite. Oh, the man had talked about the wedding happily enough--he seemed truly happy that his brother was happy, even if he was sad that he wasn't there anymore.

But that was just about the only thing Gus had gotten him to open up about. It was like he had blinked and time had turned back to all those months ago when Elliot had first arrived in the office to work. Elliot was his normal cordial and charming enough self to recruits, but when it came to small talk, he was withdrawn and anything except forthcoming. If he could venture a guess, he'd say the man was depressed, but that was about the only guess he could venture.

What he didn't know was why. Elliot avoided questions like the plague, even though Gus considered him a friend. He was left in the dark with no clue why the other man was pulling away so hard. He didn't want to ask Carrie, as it was, he suspected, something to do with her. But he'd helped Alice out awhile back, with that thing for them, and maybe she would know, or give him a hint, at least.

"Hey Alice. I'm sorry to bother you," he said. He'd gone out for lunch today just so he'd have the privacy to make the call. "I just had a question and I thought you might be able to answer it for me."

He took off his glasses and pinched his nose with a sigh. "Do you know what the heck is going on with Elliot?" he asked, not knowing how else to put it.

[fleur_de_alice]

"Not a problem." She smiled faintly, stroking a fingertip along a chunky rose bracelet as she mentally cast about for a reason why Gus, of all people, would be calling her mid-day, out of the blue. He was nice, though; had been more than helpful when she needed someone to come with her to pick up first Carrie's car, then Elliot's, that weekend they'd gone away. And I'd really thought maybe the weekend might've helped, she thought to herself, picking up a string of opals in interest and waiting for him to continue.

When he did, she sighed too, under her breath, and put the bracelet down. Drat, she'd hoped it hadn't had anything to do with Carrie and Elliot, but if he was asking her of all people, when they'd really only met the once, then he'd probably exhausted all his other options. Or doesn't have any, if Elliot's not talking and he can't politely ask Carrie, she finished silently, hitching her purse higher on her shoulder and starting for the door, trying not to see the disappointed look on the clerk's face. Well, but wait -- maybe it wasn't anything to do with that. It was a stretch, but it could be something completely unrelated, couldn't it? "I might, but tell me what going on means, first," she began, just to be safe. Coming to a stop outside, out of the flow of walkers, she smoothed her hair. "What's got you concerned?"

[elliot_winters]

Gus leaned back, poking desultorily at his sandwich. He didn’t have much appetite, to be honest. Probalby more than Elliot did, though. He suspected his coworker hadn’t eaten anything for lunch the last couple of days. “I don’t know how well you know Elliot,” he started, trying to figure out how to phrase it. “But I know he comes off as rather, ah, reserved to start with. Pull teeth to get information from him. And then he warms up.”

He rubbed his face. “Well, let’s just say, it’s like I just met the man for the first time this week, despite knowing him well enough to call him friend for some months,” he said, perhaps a bit dryly. It was frustrating even if he thought he understood a little better now than when he’d first met Elliot how the other man worked. “I know it’s awkward to ask you, but I really don’t know who else to ask.”

[fleur_de_alice]

How well she knew Elliot. Alice grimaced a bit, thinking to herself that she wouldn't have said she knew him that well, as compared to other people in her life she'd known about as long, but it certainly wasn't his fault that the first time he'd met her, she'd been hopped up on caffeine to keep her from taking a face-first tumble into her packing boxes. Which...might have made an impression on a man who tended towards the quiet side of things. The fact that she'd been pitiful and surrounded by things that needed packing might very well have been the only thing that kept him from leaving the apartment "Reserved is a good word," she agreed, smiling faintly, "though I can't say as I've ever heard it worded that way." Expressive, though. And she certainly wouldn't argue with it.

Leaning her hip against a bench, she let a long, slow breath very softly, and rubbed her forehead. Well, she'd been right then -- he was worried enough that he was calling her on the off-chance she could tell him something. Not that there was much to say, or at least, so it felt. "Nah, it's all right," she countered, fingers moving to her temple and lightly circling. "It happens, y'know?" She tilted her head back to look up at the rooftops, wondering how to answer in a non-blunt way, then gave it up with another small shrug. "He and Carrie broke up," she said finally, tossing her hair slightly and letting her eyes go unfocused. "Judging by the fact that you're calling, he's keeping it as close to his chest as she is. Possibly the only reason I know is because I live with her."

[elliot_winters]

"Quiet and polite, then," he said, lips twitching faintly. "Though he's spoken well of you." Which was one reason Gus had no problem helping with the weekend staycation a couple of weeks ago. That, and he could tell how happy time with Carrie made his coworker, and he had to say he really, really liked that. Especially with everything he knew Elliot was dealing with this year.

Gus winced faintly. "Well, shit," he said softly. "Pardon my language." He leaned back, closing his eyes. Well, no wonder Elliot was clammed up six ways to Sunday. He had wondered, but he had initially discarded it since the two had seemed so happy together. No wonder he looked so miserable when he thought no one was looking. "That close, pretty much." He had to wonder if Elliot had even told his sister, though living with her as Alice did with Carrie, probably. He couldn't keep those walls so high up all the time, could he? "Here I thought it was going so well, too." He sighed. "I know he was happy, anyway, especially after our little surprise last week."