cribellate | Annie Sawyer

[She hasn't had a job in a while - not because Owen doesn't want her to have one! (he says he makes enough for the both of them, and that's true) but because they're always in the process of fixing the house up, they're always in the process of arranging things, and she hasn't had time, that's all - and honestly, it's all right, because it lets her come and peek in on the new tenants.

And bring them teacakes and packets of tea, because that's really what good landladies do, right? She remembers watching those old shows with her mum and the landlady always prepared cakes and tea and Annie likes to do things properly.

She's on the landing now, knocking, because she knows at least one of them is in, the television's on, she can hear it.]

Hello? Hello!

[There's a knocking at the door.

Mitchell, half slouched off the sofa, sits up a little and looks towards it, as if double checking that he's heard properly. It's just that they don't typically get visitors, right--and there's the knocking again, and a voice calling a hello--

He shifts to his feet and goes over to glance outside. Oh, the landlady. That seems a really old word to apply to her, but what else would he say? Anyway, she's got something, she's holding something, and Mitchell yanks the door open and stands aside so she can come in.]

Uh, we weren't expecting-- is that tea?

[The television is still on in the background, and the house is a bit untidy, which is--being generous. But tea, man.]

[Oh, it's the really fit one.

Not that Annie notices those sorts of things, but it's hard, when George has those unfortunate ears.]

Hi, I was just about, I have cakes, too, plum teacake, I don't know if you like that sort of thing-

[But she smiles]

I thought I would drop in for a cuppa!

Well, that's-- very sweet.

[And he means that, too--surprising, and unexpected, and definitely not the sort of thing that's typically done, not these days. But it really is sweet, and he goes to take-- well, something from her, to free a hand for her and lessen her burden.]

C'mon in, then. I'm Mitchell, if you've forgotten, that's all right--and George isn't here, but he'll be irritated that he's gone and missed tea. Come on--

[He'll have to shift around a bit to get at the remote so he can switch the television off--right in the middle of a really good car chase--but, whatever.]

Have a seat.

Thank you-

[She goes and takes a moment to see how they've decorated after she hands him the teacake, and well, they're such clearly boys, they are, it's a bit of a mess, her old flat, but at the same time there's something distinctly pleasant about being here.]

I know, it's probably strange, I mean, I'm your landlady, but well, I didn't have anything to do today, and I made an extra teacake, and Owen doesn't eat them anyway, so-

[She opens her hands up, like, well, here I am!]

You're settling in all right, then? No problems?

Doesn't eat teacake? What's wrong with him?

[It's a teasing remark--maybe too far, its not as if they're friends. But he smiles a little, trying to make it cool, and reaches to pour out. She brought it over, it's only fair.]

Uh, yeah, no-- we're doing fine. It's a brilliant house. Practically glows in the dark, thanks t' that salmon colour that it's got.

[What's wrong with him - ah, well. He has a temper, but Annie only laughs a little because it's a joke, and doesn't think about the hand going to her wrist where under the sleeve there is a sort of ache]

I blame too many sweets in his youth, no appreciation-ah, thanks-

[She takes the cup and makes a little protective buffer for her hands with the ends of her gray jumper]

Do you like it? I thought it made it quite cheery!

Cheery. Yeah.

[That's not necessarily the word Mitchell would've chosen for it, but cheery isn't typically a word that he thinks at all. He dips his little finger in his cup to test it--hot, but not too hot--and quickly sticks it in his mouth to get the tea off of it before he picks up the cup itself.]

It's definitely cheery. Did you choose the colour?

Oh, no, you don't like it!

[She does look a little bit sad at that, and she's just letting her tea cool, cool, tea, cool]

Well, I did, I mean, I thought it was just lovely, but I suppose for two men it might be a little odd-

[Pause]

Unless you're. You know. Not that I have a problem with that! Live and let live, is my attitude about it.

Unless we're--

[Oh, Christ, and then he realises what she's asking.]

No! No-- [The second no has more of a laugh to it, and he sits back.] God, no. We're just friends, George and I, we're not-- this place doesn't give off that vibe, does it?

[Clearly it's the house's fault. He glances around, suspiciously, sizing up their decor. Manly decor! What's wrong with it?]

Jesus, we don't give off that vibe, do we?

Oh! Oh, oh no, I'm sorry-

[She's blushing a little, she ducks her head]

Sorry, I'm just not used to having - mostly we rent to students, well, there was that one couple but they were mental-

[Annie is not going into that then]

Sorry, anyway. No, you don't. I mean you seem like the type to have a girlfriend, at any rate. I'm not so sure about your flatmate. He's a bit more....

[She'll let that one hang]

[He laughs a little--and it's the landlord's girlfriend, right--fiancee--so this isn't exactly approved thinking, but she's cute when she blushes, he can think that without any motives or anything.]

Well, thanks? I think? And George is, yeah, he's a bit more...

[He waves a hand a little, as he lets it hang as well.]

George. It's a verb, actually, as well as a noun. A state of being. You'll see that, the more you hang around him. That's if you hang around him, I mean, I expect you've got--a life, and things.

Other teas to host.

[He holds up his mug to her, in a toast.]

[She giggles a little, and least of all because no, she doesn't, she doesn't have other teas to host]

Well I don't think George likes me very much anyway, so it's better it was just you here today.

[She finally takes a sip of her tea, and it's ideal.]

And anyway, isn't this what landladies do? Check in on things? Although I suppose that makes me sound nosy...

He's going t' like you if you make him a perfect cup of tea, just like this one.

[He gives her another cheers sort of gesture, with a smile.]

I don't know that I've ever had a landlady that serves tea. Usually they're peering through their lace curtains at you, trying t' work out if you're some sort of-- deviant. That's nosy. This, is a nice break from that.

[Another sip of tea--and it wasn't even exaggerating, calling it perfect; it is, basically, perfect.]

So how d'you like bein' a landlady?

I don't think you're a deviant!

[She says it with conviction, because she doesn't! And then she takes a sip]

It's all right, I suppose. It makes me feel all landed - Owen thinks it's silly, that we should probably just sell this flat, but I quite like having it rented.

[Pause]

How do you like the hospital?

[That's some inspiring faith there, landlady, and the bright way she says it is enough to make him laugh.]

Ah, the hospital is... [He scratches idly at his eyebrow, trying to think of a good way to put this.] ...a hospital. It's a job. I mean, I like it, you just go and you do your work and you come home, and don't bring any of it with you. Mindless, soul-numbing... lovely.

Not nearly enough opportunities for tea and chats, though, so I think of the two of us, you've probably got more job satisfaction. Unless you... actually have another job, and I'm being totally offensive in my assumptions. I hope that's not the case.

I-

[She smile and it's fleeting, for the briefest, shiniest instant, there's a trace of something other, there, but then the smile is soft and sure again.]

I'm not working right now. Owen, well, he says I don't have to, and there's so much to do with the house and getting everything in order...

[The thing about being technically predatory--which isn't something he much likes to consider, especially over a perfectly pleasant and uneventful tea with the landlord's fiancee--is that Mitchell notices, when things are off. A little skip in the heartbeat, a little hitch in conversation. Something like a shadow crosses her face, and in other cases this might be an opportunity--but for him, here, now, it's just... off.

But she smiles, and so he smiles back, tentatively.]

But you did before all of this? What was it you did?

Before? I was a fashion student. I was trying to get a job working in the industry - I'm not a designer, I thought, maybe I could get a job on a magazine as an editor or something - but I didn't really have a proper job. Just some part time things, you know?

[She takes a sip of her tea]

I was thinking maybe we would move to London or something.

London, yeah-- London's all right. I mean, just about anything's better than Bristol.

[A beat.]

You're not, like, really fond of Bristol, and that's why you're still here, right? 'Cause-- it's not like Bristol's bad--

No, I'm not-

[She says it with a little giggle]

Well why are you here, don't they have hospitals in Ireland?

Yeah, they do, thanks, it's not some-- savage hospital-less wasteland.

[He keeps up that tone of teasing when he says it, even if his smile sort of-- flattens, and twists, as he looks down into his teacup. It's just a passing moment, there and gone a second later.]

I've been living out of the country for too long. They'd know me straight off, ship me back here. Might as well save myself the trouble. Plus, Bristol, y'know, it's just so... great.

I went on holiday to Dublin once, I got the impression of a very civilized place, you know. Perhaps you've been too damaged by the wilds of Southern England.

[She says that with a smile, though.]

Well, and you have George, I don't suspect he would do well in a country where he couldn't blend in.

The 'wilds of southern England'-- oh, yeah, that's it.

[But he's still smiling as well, even as he shrugs.]

Nah, it's just-- you know how it is. You get used t' the way things are, 'til you can't imagine things being anything else. You get... comfortable.

Yeah, I do know how it is.

[And the fear of changing, too.]

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