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the film noir meme

-Pick out your character and fandom, as well as preferences.
-Go here and generate a random number between 1-10 for the setting
-Post all that.
-If you want, you or the person tagging you can roll a number between 1-8 for relationship as well!
- You know what to do next, honey.

Possible settings:

1. Crime Scene: Dead body? Burglary? Whatever the crime, it's been sectioned off for the officers to investigate this nefarious deed, and you're getting a good look at it.

2. Speakeasy: Prohibition's such a joke to society, and this is where the fashionable ones come to hang out and gossip. Perhaps a police officer or two will show up to investigate, but no one ever takes that seriously.

3. Docks at Night: The breeze caressing your face, the sound of the water, the boats passing by...maybe you were called here, or maybe you just like the peace it brings.

4. Alleyway: There's only one way in and out of this little corridor, and what happens in it is up to you and the other character. Just watch for the shadows, if you can see through the fog.

5. Detective's Office: Not too clean, not too messy. Just perfect for the person that's needed to get this mystery cleared up.

6. Rooftop: The wind dramatically blowing about, it's the perfect place to get that person to come and meet you so you can tell them what you want. Or if you're evil, why not kill them up here? It'll be hard to escape you.

7. Dressing Room: For some reason, you're backstage after a performance, and you've gotten into one of these. The mirrors, the costumes, the flowers from fans and the various personal affects...all are present and will be your silent witnesses to whatever occurs.

8. Hideout: You've gotten to the antagonist's spot of choice. Is this a glitzy nightclub with a private room, or is this an abandoned warehouse where they-or you-carry out their plot? The choice is yours.

9. Nightclub: Someone's showcasing their talent tonight, and you may or may not care about it. But it's classic, dimly lit, and it's easy to hide in here.

10. Free choice

Possible relationships:

1. Friends: Maybe you're an unstoppable team, or perhaps your relationship is getting strained. But whatever the situation, you know this person, and you'd be there for them.

2. Coworkers/teammates/classmates: You might not be friends, but you know this person well enough to remember their name. And right now you're being thrown together for a reason.

3. Lovers: This is the one you wanted to stay with for now. Married, dating, or maybe an affair, but you two care about each other enough.

4. Enemies: Utter hatred flows through your veins when you hear this person's name. This is the one you want to take down, and you just might stop at nothing to achieve your goal.

5. Family: Perhaps it's a sibling you're meeting. Or your parent, or some form of relative. Remember that phrase "blood is thicker than water"? It just might apply here.

6. Mysterious Stranger: Someone's been eyeing you from across the room, or you've been eyeing them. Will you two speak, or shall they float out of your life? Do they hold information you seek, or do they want something from you?

7. Femme/Homme Fatale: You are or have encountered a mysterious and seductive person, whose charms ensnare their lovers in bonds of irresistible desire, often leading them into compromising, dangerous, and deadly situations. Watch out, you might just get yourself into a real mess of trouble, hot stuff.

8. Free Choice

Taken from

easycompany without permission.

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"My place," He blurted out the answer without thinking it, and then offers a smile, "I actually live just a few blocks away. It's closer to my office... and I was forced to move after an 'incident'."

The incident happened during last Christmas where he found out his identity was stolen and there was an imposter running around mucking up his cases. Luckily that was nipped in the bud rather quickly and he had to take the extra precaution of changing everything.

He made sure everything was closed and back in the proper place as best as they could manage, before holding the door for River to go through first.

As they walked quickly down the street he couldn't help to chuckle, "Don't mind the mess. I've been working on this case and a couple others for a while now. My place is a mass casualty." But he was never the most tidy. If she would recall, his mania tended to take over during certain points in open cases and he would amass a collection of mugs and tea cups scattered about his living space. Newspaper clippings would be pinned to a large board he always had on display where a TV should be.

"Right, right, I forget not everyone lives out of their office," she quipped, half-jokingly. No one really knew her residence was on top of her office, but what did it say about her that she couldn't keep herself far from work?

Back out on the street, the chill of the cold night air clawed at them, and she pulled her collar up and held it closed in front of her neck. One of these days she'd invest in a scarf. ~~No, she wouldn't.~~

"Somehow, I'm not surprised." She smiled as he continued to talk, memories of when they'd been together slipping to the forefront of her mind. She joked once that she didn't need the experience of motherhood because she looked after him when cases drove him mad. Once or twice she'd even been a bit helpful.

"You know, there's a question I'm surprised you haven't asked yet. Unless you deduced it already."

"Yes," He commented as he unlocked a royal blue door to his flat just off the street. There were a couple plants just outside, but looked like they hadn't been watered in ages and had died.

Stepping inside, the wood of the floors creaked under his weight as he pulled off his jacket and hung it up in a near bare closet followed by slipping off his worn trainers that he refused to part with. Turning to offer her a spot in the closet, he took the files from her that she had been carrying.

"At first when I saw you, I wondered: 'why me?', 'why now?', but have realized the answer is obvious: You're divorced." Towards the end of their 'fling', if that is what he could even call it that given it felt much more at the time, he noticed her distancing herself from him. Hiding things, and holding back clues to cases he had asked her to investigate for him. "And you can't solve this by yourself, so you had no choice but to come back."

He's leaning against the wall, watching her in the dim light. Desperately, he wanted to ask if he was correct, but then pushed off and headed towards the small kitchen to start a kettle. Sometimes it was best to keep thoughts to yourself.

Edited 2013-12-18 06:45 (UTC)

River/Melody slipped off her coat and her hat after handing him the files, hanging up the first in the closet. The hat she held on to a few moments more as he spoke, watching her from where he leaned against the wall.

"Excuse you!" River exclaimed, following him and tossing her hat aside. "You could be a little less of an arse about it! 'Had to come back' - as if I'm some dimwitted girl who's come crawling on her knees! I chose you because you're the best to work with and because I wanted a reason to talk to you again! I didn't think you'd see me otherwise!"

"Ah!" He half turns and gives her a coy smile and a raise of an eyebrow, "I wasn't insinuating that, but given this is the first time I've seen you in years, I would've come!"

Although after the words had left his mouth, even that answer was honestly doubtful. Maybe he wouldn't have, given how even this had flared up dormant feelings of confusion, curiosity, and wrongly enough, desire. He shook it off as he flipped on a switch to the kitchen, where the counter top couldn't even been seen as there were piles of papers everywhere - scribbled notes hung from the small refrigerator and even some of the cabinets. The kitchen table had stacks of books, and on the wall was his first cork board with more notes, crude sketches of various things, and actual string thumb tacked to photos and notes, linking them in some form or fashion.

He found the kettle and began filling it with water and shortly after placed it on the stove. "Make yourself at home. I think it's safe to say I have nothing to hide." His life was his work, now, though a small photo of him and River actually existed at his desk in the room over. A relic of the past and something he wasn't quite ready to part with, tucked away between the pages of a small diary he kept with important thoughts and antecedents that struck him over the years.

When the kettled cried, he poured the mugs with tea and joined River over at the table, clearing more of a space for them to work. He didn't know about her, but this revelation was enough to kick him back in a manic episode, one he hadn't had in a month, and most likely wouldn't sleep much.

She doubted his answer as well, though she firmly held her tongue on the matter. She was conflicted enough over all of this - the complexity of the case, the excitement of seeing him again, of working with him...and then the resurging attraction and frustration that followed.

In the light of the kitchen, River's appearance was more easy to discern: a short-sleeved cocktail dress in dark green clung to her body (mostly her hips), flaring out fashionably at her knees. Not the most professional thing for detective work, but hey, that's what the trenchcoat was for, right? And perhaps she'd secretly wanted to make an impression on him after all these years.

Nothing to hide. "Unlike me, you mean?" She retorted, ambling through the kitchen as she looked over his work space. Messy as ever, possibly even worse than when she'd known him. Her hand practically floated over the stacks of papers and books as she took in everything, though her curiosity did have her wanting to peek inside some of them.

But curiosity was better channeled into other things, and eventually she seated herself at the table, inching a book or two over so she could at least rest an elbow on the surface. She murmured a small thank-you when he finally brought over the finished tea, directing her curiosity towards him.

"So. Burning the beyond-midnight oil it is." She reached for a file, flipping it open. "You know...just because this is the first time you've seen me in all this time doesn't mean I haven't been watching you."

"Oh?" This was the first time he had expected to hear that. She almost literally disappeared into the night, that one cool August night. He remembered it very well, watching her walk down the street to the bus stop - she didn't even look back at him as she paid her fair and found a seat. It was all rehearsed down to the very seat she choose, wasn't it?

The events replayed in his mind, as he tried to ignore it, faking a disinterested look as he picked a folder and started leafing through it. "I'm flattered." That reply was honest, and he paused after reading the same sentence over for the third time in a row.

He licks his lips wondering how honest he should be, and decided that honest would be the best policy. "Can I see it? Your scar...?"

When she left that August night, she'd planned for it to be the last time they ever saw each other. She'd chosen the seat in the rear of the bus, her back to him the last thing he ever saw. He never knew the tears that fell down her cheeks the minute the bus departed.

But things didn't go the way she planned. She hadn't been able to let go of the thought of him, even when she'd changed her name and started a new life for herself. He was still a part of her heart that she couldn't shut the door on completely. She kept an eye on his career, observing him fondly from afar as she made a name for herself in the detecting business.

River was quiet. Her eyes halted on the page she was reading. In a slow, calculated movement, she closed the folder, eyes downcast. She turned towards him, gently folding down the sleeves of her dress until she could tug the front down enough to show him her breasts, encased in a black slip.

But there it was. A small blemish on the skin he once knew so intimately well.

She said nothing; she needed to gauge his reaction first before she would allow herself the opportunity to admit how exposed she felt.

She was bearing quite a bit of flesh to him, in which if she were anyone else, would probably make him hesitate and become uncomfortable, but this was River. He knew her in quite amount of detail, even if a small amount of those memories had faded.

But without thinking or any hints of hesitation, he leans slightly forward and reaches out to touch the scar. "It wasn't close range... Of course not," He spoke the second sentence almost to himself, "You'd be dead if it was."

His fingers trace the raised skin, feeling the uneven smoothness, and realized this wasn't appropriate and moved his hand away, "I'm sorry."

River made a hum of agreement, reluctant to think back upon that night. She thought she'd been careful, clever. Skulking about to catch a criminal red-handed. But he'd been involved with a great many other crooks, and she didn't see it coming until it was too late.

She grabbed his hand. "So am I," she breathed. "But not for that. Don't apologize for that. You always did know how to handle me." Back in the old days, she would've said that with a saucy wink and a suggestion tone. But this time, she was serious. Her thumb idly circled the back of his hand, clinging to the warmth of his touch.

"I'm sorry, John. For not telling you the truth all those years ago."

He shakes his head, knowing he was just as much in the wrong, given his string of flings he had strung along, but none of them stuck... except for two people. One of those was lost to him forever, the other was sitting right before him holding his hand to her chest.

There's a slow inhale, "I've missed you. I won't lie about that." He could feel his heart racing and blood pumping rapidly throughout his body, "But what's done is done. It's lovely to see you again."

He should move on and not let his feelings dictate his actions, and he should remain professional no matter how difficult that was with her exposing some of herself to him. The Doctor had nothing to offer in return beyond that he had gone more manic in his being alone and too absorbed in his work. He couldn't even remember what a date was that didn't involve fishing for information on a case.

"Considering my state of dress, I'm sure it is," she teased.

She tugged up the top of her dress with her free hand for modesty's sake - that is, his, not her own. Well, truth be told it was a little chilly sitting there like that, and she didn't need her breasts providing an extra show by responding to the temperature. Without the full assistance of sleeves, the fabric just barely hung on to her body over the slip.

"We should get back to work," she said softly, looking down to his hand. "But when we solve this....you and I deserve a talk."

"Right!" He pulls his hands and away and spins to the corkboard behind him. "Richter, Hobbs, Nolan... All here! Here's their timelines... to an extent."

There was a calendar tacked to the corkboard on the left with various color strings going different ways, but none that were linked to Nolan. "I'm afaid we're going to have to rework this a bit."

And then he disappeared for a moment into his room, and returning with a dark brown toggle sweater and handed it to River, "You look cold."

River got up and followed him to the corkboard, arms crossed in front of her. She looked it over with a frown as he disappeared for a moment. That hadn't changed, his tendency to flit this way and that. If anything he seemed much more flighty.

"There must be something we're missing," she mused aloud.

She was too focused on studying the board to notice the offered sweater right away. After a good fifteen seconds she finally looked over, surprised. "What? Oh! Thank you, sweetie." She slipped it on, crossing her arms once again from habit. "Where shall we start?"

He was silent a moment, tugging at an earlobe as he studied his board, then pulled out a folded map of the city back onto the kitchen table, "I've marked the murder scenes and scenes of interest - most namely their known hideouts or homes...."

The Doctor grew silent, staring at the unmarked home of his friend, Robert Clark. It still didn't seem right, that his friend of many years was associated in all of this. If this was true and was coming to light now, how many nights did he spend laughing at the Doctor? Was he mocking him with his wife or business partners behind his back, even at this moment in time?

"How did you find out he was part of the Murciano family?"

"The warning signs first went up when I was looking through his file. A lot of his paperwork resembled the work of a friend of mine - forger who specializes in identification papers, new identities."

There was a reason she was known to the rest of the world as Melody Malone, after all. She slowly paced around the table, reaching to remove the bobby pin in her hair restraining a few of her curls. "Of course, when I went to question him, he was suspiciously tight-lipped and twitchy, so I figured someone with fat pockets and big fists might be holding his tongue."

She suddenly got quiet, walking slightly away from the table and staring at the board.

"...Robert talks in his sleep. That was when I knew for sure."

He was nodding as she spoke, listening, but gaze remained focused on his board, until her last sentence and his head nearly snapped off with as fast as he turned to her direction.

"....He has children, River!" He felt the blood rush from his face and felt ill, if what she was implying matched what he was assuming.

He scrubbed at his tired face, feeling like he might be sick, but managed to swallow down his emotions for the time being. At least enough where he wouldn't vomit on his floor right there.

This whole night was going to take a toll on him, wasn't it?

"Whom he loves very much," she replied matter-of-factly, unable to look back at him. She could practically feel the disappointment and disgust emanating from him. "But he's got a whole closet of skeletons, especially where his marriage is involved. I didn't go out of my way and seduce him, John. I just took advantage of his weakness."

She'd never been above using feminine charm to get ahead in a case - has he forgotten the time she flirted with a security guard so he could sneak past for his own investigation? As Melody Malone, that hadn't changed. But how far did she actually go for the sake of this case? Her lips were sealed.

He hadn't forgotten those moments, given as they were trivial in the scheme of things, but learning that she most likely slept with his friend? He wasn't sure how to stomach that.

The Doctor had used his own fair share of charm to get answers out of people, but he made sure not to go that far. Plenty would doubt it, probably even River, but the Doctor knew exactly whom he had shared a bed with. River being the last person.

He ruffles his hair before making the situation worse and before he could say anything that could potentially make this situation worse, but deep in his mind, he wondered if she was playing on his own weakness - her.

"Erm, you're free to look things over, I need to get something." He stepped away to the loo to splash water over his face and not let his nicknamed 'oncoming storm' anger ruin things. Not now, not when he was getting new data.

Wordlessly, River let him excuse himself. She stayed there for what felt like a long while, staring at the board and then the map on the table. But the unease in her stomach - goodness, when was the last time she'd actually felt vulnerable enough to be uneasy? - persisted, and she found herself spinning on her heel to follow where 'The Doctor' had gone.

She lingered just outside the loo, to the side of the doorway with her back to the wall. She would wait until he exited. Perhaps she'd made a mistake in being ~~mostly~~ honest. In seeking him out again. She began to feel like instead of solving a case they were tearing open old wounds. Or, in her case, giving him a new one.

Edited 2013-12-28 04:53 (UTC)

The door opened, and the Doctor wasn't expecting to see River lingering there in the dim light. "I'm sorry. If you needed to go, erm..." The sentence drifted away from him as he studied her still wrapped in his sweater.

Her expression was unreadable, and he imagined his own gave that away. "Look, I'm not judging you, just tonight's been a lot to process." His shoulders relaxed and posture slumped. He wish he knew how to handle this better without getting his emotions in the way.

"Yes, I now. And it's quite a bit my fault," she said, straightening up from the wall. Even after all these years it seemed she still hadn't learned not to hurt the man she cared most about.

"So talk to me. Tell me honestly, John - are you upset because of what I might've done for information or because the man I targeted was your friend? I still know when you're upset, I can feel it in how you look at me. So just tell me, please. You said you missed me, before. Are you regretting that now?"

He shakes his head, "It's not entirely your fault, no. I should've seen the signs. I just had known him for years it's never crossed my mind of what he potentially was."

And there was a sigh, "I've missed you horribly, River, there's no doubt in that. I just... he is -- was -- my friend. I didn't know any of this." He imagined he must've looked like a kicked puppy right about now.

"I still want to finish this case, though."

"So do I, but I don't want you thinking I'm damaged goods or some floozy that spreads herself for every wiseguy in the city!" She exclaimed, an uneven breath escaping her. She couldn't take the way he looked, so hurt and disappointed.

"My career is all I've got, John. I'm proud of it. But that doesn't mean I like everything I've done for the sake of it. I've lied and cheated and charmed people, and I justified it to myself with every successfully closed case. Because when I go to sleep at night, that's all I've got, my bloody success rate." River paused, swallowing against the lump in her throat that was forming. In her own defense, at the time she hadn't known the two were friends.

"And yes, I've even slept with a man or two for information." And one woman, but that wasn't relevant at the moment. She crossed her arms tightly in front of herself. "And your friend would've been the next one if he hadn't passed out on me. So. There you are." She sniffed, looking on the verge on tears. The mask of cool detective Melody Malone was completely stripped away now, and she felt much like a child again.

"If you are going to judge me, at least you've got the truth."

"You're not alone," He offered a somber smile, "The only socializing I've done is all work related as well. In the end what you see here is what I come home to each night. It's nothing I don't find shameful, just my cases are my life; my job is my life.

Hell, I don't even remember the last time I went on holiday." He couldn't help to laugh at that. It was pathetic and depressing. "And your success rate hasn't gone unnoticed - you've nearly run me off of a job!"

He did feel a relief, although a small one, to know he had jumped too far into conclusions of her statement, but it wasn't like she had clarified for him what exactly she meant. How else was he suppose to feel?

There was a nagging urge to close the distance between them and offer her some comfort, and something told him he shouldn't, but when did he ever listen? Doing exactly that, he cupped her face in his hand, "We've both done things we're not proud of for sake of our job. Let's just put that behind us, eh?"

the film noir meme

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pardon me as I steal a screencap from another tv show

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