[closed] yeah yeah and I'm alright

[5055034455]

Date & Time: June 29 — July ∞
Location: Around Exsilium
Characters: Saul & TBA
Summary: A catch-all log for Saul's many business etc. meetings throughout the month, because otherwise there would be like a million logs up. Not even an exaggeration. An actual million.
Warnings: Drugs in Jesse's thread, violence in Coby's, sap in Effie's.

[Sometimes, the best way to get over something is to find a suitable distraction.

Since Saul's #1 distraction has always been work, he doesn't see why that can't be the case here as well — he may not technically be practicing law at the moment, but his skill set is undeniably useful. Extremely so. (As far as he's considered, anyway.) He doesn't need his own office or a secretary or a PI or a bodyguard to get plenty of shit done. He's Saul Goodman, for godssakes — what the hell good is he if he's not working?

His hands have been idle for too long, and look at where they've gotten him.

Devil's tools indeed.

So here he is, keeping busy. Training, doing business, drinking more coffee (and alcohol) than he probably should. Whatever works, right? Right.]

Comments

[5055034455]

[So this is not how their night was supposed to go. The last thing he needs is her crying again, and the second-to-last thing he needs is to be reminded of his own shitty situation. He knows exactly how she feels — for all that he genuinely likes it here despite its many faults, he still misses the comforts of home. He misses his office, he misses having a secretary, he misses having people to do his dirty work, he misses having dirty work to do...

...okay, maybe not so much that last one.

But when Effie looks at him like that, he feels like he's looking in a mirror. This place is scary; he can see the steady toll it's taking on him when he wakes up the morning and the gray at his temples has crawled a little higher, when the darkness under his eyes has turned them a darker shade of blue. He doesn't sleep well. Being awake is its own problem.

He doesn't want any of that to happen to her. She'll have to change, of course — there's no escaping that, no matter how much hatred she projects out into this new universe. And there will be times when she's terrified instead of angry. She might even get hurt. But he can help.

He's great at distracting people.

This is why he shifts around so that he's sitting sideways and, without hesitation or ceremony, leans in to press a light kiss to her lips. When he pulls back, he's smirking, one eyebrow playfully arched.]

Everyone?

[powdered]

[ Effie had been expecting Saul to laugh at her or criticize her, not kiss her. His lips were just a little bit rougher and cooler than her own. His mouth was as generous as it was big, which really was saying something.

Effie was irritated, and she didn't know if it was because he had kissed her without asking- or because he had stopped. When he pulled back she quickly retreated as well, powdered cheeks flushed and eyes wide. She couldn't remember the last time she had been kissed, the Games and tour had kept her so busy. ]

Saul!

D-don't tease me!

[5055034455]

[...of all the possible responses.

Effie obviously does not know the meaning of that word. Here's an idea: Saul should teach her!

He leans in again, but doesn't go for another kiss just yet. Instead, he bumps noses with her, smirk yielding to a full grin. Is he pushing it? Maybe. Is this his usual modus operandi? Sure is.]

Now why would I do that?

[powdered]

[ She wrinkled her nose in turn, eyeing with him with disdain and an increasingly pink face. ]

Because you are terrible.

[ Except that he had pulled her from that dangerous downward spiral of negative thought, and made it much easier for her to be flustered and irritated rather than depressed. ]

Now I'll have to fix my gloss!

[5055034455]

[He's been called a lot of things. "Terrible" is a new one, though.

In this context, anyway.

Saul chuckles, the sound low and quiet in his throat, thinking of all the other things she'd have to fix if he had his way — but he'll instead settle on making those lips of hers a little messier with another kiss, this one hardly as light as the first.]

There are worse things.

[powdered]

[ How did this man continue to catch her off-guard? Effie had fended off the attention of men much more powerful and convincing than Saul, whom she had accepted more from and offered even less. It was impossible to predict this brazen fool, who wouldn't stop kissing her and mucking up her makeup and threatening the neat wall she put between herself and unplanned personal relations.

He wasn't playing the game fairly, and for once Effie felt over her head with a man- which was both dizzying and intimidating and for all that she pondered her surprising situation she wasn't making much effort to put any space between their bodies or even stop him from kissing her further. ]

Says you.

[5055034455]

[Saul has that effect on people, and he knows it. He's good at making his actions seem spontaneous — like the way he lifts one hand to cup her cheek and smear some of that blush away — but the truth is, he's five steps ahead at any given moment, planning for any and all contingencies just in case.

One might suspect all that thinking would be a distraction, but no; he's attentive, he's careful, and he's very much there in the moment right alongside her, ready to follow her lead.

He laughs again. It's a good-natured sound, one that's muffled slightly against her mouth.

So eloquent, Effie.]