21:41 <VoxPVoxD> Even after the hour it takes her to get into reasonable clothes, even after the first drink and the second drink, Willie's far too wired to sleep. She's been vibrating since Weaste opened that elevator, and practically wriggling out of her skin since she dropped Bob off. So to unwind she's kneading some dough to proof overnight for pastries to bring to tomorrow's offsite meeting. It's half 21:41 <VoxPVoxD> two when her phone rings. 21:44 <VoxPVoxD> Her heart leaps! The phone's in the other room, hopefully Sergio doesn't get cold feet before she can clean her hands... of course, one supposes he has congenitally cold feet now. 21:45 <VoxPVoxD> Still, a brisk rinse of flour and butter off her fingers, a quick spot check of her still-done-up hair in the side of the espresso machine, and then she's fully prepared to look with severe disappointment at the name of the contact behind this attempted Facetime call. 21:50 <VoxPVoxD> The man at the other end is sitting in full daylight. A sunroom, perhaps, or a balcony. The phone's clearly propped on some sort of stand or easel, because she can see him from the waist up - a soft-featured face that's gone gray too early for the clarity of its skin, a preposterously fluffy cashmere jumper, and hands that hold a teacup almost to his lips, almost steadily. 21:53 <VoxPVoxD> "Minnie, my pet! Lovely hair. And the earrings - are those the Golconda diamonds? Getting ready for a night on the town? Is there even a town to take a night on up there?" 21:54 <VoxPVoxD> Willie's chest rises and falls. "You've forgotten your time zones, Eddie, dearest. It's nearly three here. I'm just home." 21:56 <VoxPVoxD> Eddie, who had not forgotten: "Something for the society pages, I hope." 21:57 <VoxPVoxD> Willie finally takes those fancy Indian diamond earrings off, feeling remarkably conscious of the way they must glitter against the lights in the living room. "No, nothing like that. A quiet evening out with friends." 21:59 <VoxPVoxD> George Edward, the fourth child of the Duke, murmurs into his teacup. "Mmmhmm. So quiet you're still wide awake. How is the night life in Manchester? Softening the blow of your self-imposed exile?" 22:00 <VoxPVoxD> Willie looks offscreen, frowning just a bit, and then Eddie sees the lens track her unsteadily into the kitchen. "Oh oh! Do show me around. Give me the tour." 22:07 <VoxPVoxD> The camera changes perspectives, the origin of a gentle scoff now entirely hidden. Eddie gets a slow, panoramic view of the living room, the kitchen, the foyer, a quick peek into the bedroom. They're back in the kitchen when he sees his sister's face again. "And how are you, Eddie, dearest? How's Tokyo? How's the book? How's... I've forgotten his name." 22:07 <VoxPVoxD> Eddie, firmly: "So have I." 22:10 <VoxPVoxD> After an appropriate pause to appreciate the wincing little smirk that gets from Willie, he continues: "Tokyo is lovely. Almost fully back to life after the suffocating, industrial tragedy of the last couple of years." 22:10 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "Oh, yes. It's so refreshing to be able to see lockdowns firmly in the rearview." 22:11 <VoxPVoxD> Eddie: "I meant the Olympics, pet." 22:12 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "Of course you did. You've always been deathly allergic to fun. I still remember being in London for the closing ceremony. I think that was the last time I felt properly patriotic." 22:12 <VoxPVoxD> Eddie: "Oh? What was the first?" 22:12 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "The opening ceremony." 22:13 <VoxPVoxD> A polite little chuckle. 22:15 <VoxPVoxD> Eddie: "We haven't checked in since your exeunt. How are you, Minnie? Spare no detail." He squints. "What are you doing?" 22:16 <VoxPVoxD> Willie's got her phone propped up against the blender, so she's visible in her nightgown, arms busily working something just below frame. "Kneading." 22:17 <VoxPVoxD> Eddie: "Have you finally gone mad enough to take up an interesting job? Are you a baker now? A baker in diamonds?" 22:20 <VoxPVoxD> Willie's eyes are down at her hands as she speaks and works. "These are going to be pains au chocolates. I'm bringing them to work tomorrow." 22:21 <VoxPVoxD> Eddie: "I thought civil servants were still fully remote." 22:22 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "Why would they have relocated the department if they intended to keep everyone remote?" 22:24 <VoxPVoxD> Eddie harrumphs a bit. "Have it your way. I suppose a little ladylike discretion must win out over the wishes of one's favourite brother." 22:26 <VoxPVoxD> Willie wrinkles her nose. "If you must know, I have taken a second job. Consulting work. Contract stuff. We meet at an offsite. Dismal industrial castoffs, in the classic Lancashire style. But my colleagues appreciate them." 22:27 <VoxPVoxD> Eddie: "You know, if you could keep a man, you wouldn't need to cook for strangers all the time." 22:27 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "If you could keep a man, you wouldn't need to call your sister at three in the bloody morning." 22:29 <VoxPVoxD> Eddie sighs into his teacup. "I've missed you." 22:29 <VoxPVoxD> "When can you come out to Asia again?" 22:32 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "I don't know. Maybe I can take a week at Christmas. My schedule is hardly my own lately." 22:33 <VoxPVoxD> Eddie: "How terribly stressful. How are you getting on?" 22:35 <VoxPVoxD> Willie does another roll-and-fold of the croissant dough and then beats the shit out of it with the rolling pin, face set with furious focus. Then she smiles into the front camera lens. "Oh, I muddle through." 22:37 <VoxPVoxD> Eddie: "So I see!" 22:38 <VoxPVoxD> Willie sighs. "It's just been a long week. And I'm very nearly through it." 22:40 <VoxPVoxD> Eddie: "Is it terribly lonely?" 22:40 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "Not anymore." 22:40 <VoxPVoxD> Eddie: "New friends?" 22:40 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "...yes. Yes, I think so." 22:40 <VoxPVoxD> Eddie: "A paramour?" 22:41 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "..." 22:41 <VoxPVoxD> Eddie leans forward. 22:41 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "...maybe." 22:43 <VoxPVoxD> Eddie's grin is magnetic, perhaps all the more because they cross his face so rarely. Shades of some gently confrontational bodhisattva. The Buddha you meet on the road, and then, rightly, kill. 22:43 <VoxPVoxD> Willie groans. "It's complicated." 22:43 <VoxPVoxD> Eddie: "That is the parlance of the times, yes." 22:43 <VoxPVoxD> "Tell me about him." 22:46 <VoxPVoxD> Willie wraps the dough to let it rest in the fridge until morning. A crucial step for good croissants. Over the sound of the running faucet, she says, "I think you would like him very much. Creative, but serious." 22:47 <VoxPVoxD> Eddie: "Not another DJ, I hope? Is it whosit, the they/them with the microgallery?" 22:47 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "Their name is Mischa, Eddie. And no. This is someone new. Someone local. Very he/him." 22:49 <VoxPVoxD> Eddie tilts his head. "Do you like him?" 22:49 <VoxPVoxD> Willie fixes another drink and collapses onto her sofa with the phone. "Very much. But it's complicated." 22:51 <VoxPVoxD> Eddie: "Against true love, what obstacle can pose a challenge?" 22:51 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "Do fuck off." 22:51 <VoxPVoxD> Eddie's giggle is high and impish. 22:52 <VoxPVoxD> "What's the problem, then?" 22:54 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "I suppose the main problem is that we connected under... somewhat false pretenses." 22:54 <VoxPVoxD> Eddie, knowingly: "Ah! Married." 22:54 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "No! What do you take me for?" 22:55 <VoxPVoxD> Eddie: "It's the only surefire way to know someone is a viable mate." 22:57 <VoxPVoxD> Willie thinks, but does not say, that she's not going to make that mistake again. What she offers instead is, "I misrepresented my background a bit." 22:57 <VoxPVoxD> Eddie: "You don't lead with the coat of arms on dating apps?" 22:58 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "Shocking, I know." 23:00 <VoxPVoxD> "But we went out tonight. We met some of his family. And he's only just gotten a real sense of who I am. The full Willie." 23:01 <VoxPVoxD> Eddie: "Mmm. How'd he take it?" 23:01 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "I don't know. I thought it was a sparkling success, but... probably not the sparkling success he pictured going in." 23:05 <VoxPVoxD> Eddie: "Is his feeling genuine? Or is he only interested in the f—" 23:05 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "Finish that sentence at your peril. I know assassins." 23:06 <VoxPVoxD> Another giggle. 23:06 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "I think so. It's only been a couple of nights, really... but they've been very intense." 23:08 <VoxPVoxD> She goes on: "What's the most inconvenience you think someone can put themselves through to act serious about a relationship their heart isn't in?" 23:08 <VoxPVoxD> Eddie: "I spent a couple of thousand on wedding invitations. Retained a photographer." 23:09 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "Yes, well, you are a singular character." 23:12 <VoxPVoxD> Eddie: "More seriously, I think you can trust your sense of the man's feeling. But... feeling only goes so far. It's a small part of the overall architecture. Load-bearing, sure, but not a keystone." 23:12 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "What a dismal thought." 23:12 <VoxPVoxD> Eddie: "Wisdom often is." 23:13 <VoxPVoxD> Willie rolls her eyes. "You sound like my colleagues. Some of them, anyway. Very serious, very sober, very rational. Very middle-aged-as-a-pejorative. No offense." 23:13 <VoxPVoxD> Eddie: "Some taken." 23:13 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "How can you tell the difference between growing wiser and just getting tired?" 23:13 <VoxPVoxD> Eddie, simply: "We can't." 23:13 <VoxPVoxD> "And neither can you." 23:19 <VoxPVoxD> Willie sinks back into the sofa, like she's about to fall asleep right there. "It's all so dreadfully complicated." 23:20 <VoxPVoxD> Eddie: "Alas, yes. Is there anyone whose company you enjoy without complication? Has there ever been?" 23:20 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "The man I made cry has a very charming girlfriend." 23:20 <VoxPVoxD> Eddie: "Now there's the Minnie I know." 23:23 <VoxPVoxD> "My, you really do seem worn out. Perhaps I shouldn't keep you." 23:23 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "No, don't go. You're the first person who knows me I've spoken to in months." 23:24 <VoxPVoxD> Eddie: "No, no. You need rest. And I've let this late breakfast almost bleed into my early lunch. Meeting a publisher for the Indonesia diary." 23:25 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "Can I read it?" 23:25 <VoxPVoxD> Eddie: "I'll email you the draft. We should be in contact more often. Perhaps I'll call again in a week?" 23:25 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "Oh, weekly calls would be delightful." 23:26 <VoxPVoxD> Eddie: "I'm not going to make that commitment. But on a provisional basis... next week, perhaps? At a more decent hour for you? My evening, your lunchtime, perhaps?" 23:26 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "It's a date." 23:27 <VoxPVoxD> Eddie: "Get to bed, Minnie dearest. Passing out on the sofa is for drunks and office workers." 23:27 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "I am an office worker." 23:27 <VoxPVoxD> Eddie, firmly: "No, Willie. No, you aren't." 23:27 <VoxPVoxD> "Good night. I love you." 23:28 <VoxPVoxD> Willie, wince-smiling: "You too. Good luck today." 23:28 <VoxPVoxD> "You as well, pet." 23:29 <VoxPVoxD> She considers staying on the sofa just to spite him... but it's just hard enough to get comfortable that after a few minutes she's up again, and retires to her real bed.