Authors Notes: I thought this had to go without saying, but no flaming!!
Argh! Anyhow, thanks to everyone who gave me nice reviews!! I haven't put
another part on recently because I got that damn 'Blaster Worm' virus!
Anyhow, it's all better now so I can continue. *Crowd Moans*
*** "Go left. Left!! I SAID LEFT!!!"
"I AM going left!!"
"No I meant go MY left!!"
"Oh for the love of God! I can't go back that way now!!"
"Well it's you fault for not being able to tell left from right!!"
"You were saying to go YOUR left! How am I supposed to know!?" John watched Bill thump his slim fingers down on the directional buttons on the keyboard with an increasing emotion within him that he couldn't quite work out. It was like someone had left a pressure cooker on inside him. . . His already boiling blood began to char his very bones as he watched that idiot Rabbitson fumble the keyboard and the character on the screen go bouncing around, flying off cliffs and diving into boiling lava.
"Change into wolf form!!" One of the others researchers yelled at Bill. "It can't get you in wolf form!!!" John watched the small, poorly rendered wolf bounce from metal spike to metal spike like a pinball and an almighty roar of discontent rose from the spectators.
"You moron!!! Change Back!! CHANGE BACK!!!"
"I'm trying!!!!"
-But suddenly the picture on the P.C screen disappeared-
"WHAT DID YOU PRESS?!?!"
"I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING!!!" Still sitting in the leathery wheelie chair, Bill checked around the P.C for loose cables but his eyes stopped dead in mild shock when they came to a pale damp hand that could only have belonged to one man.
"This isn't play time, boys." William said in his calm, deep voice. DR. Birkin then folded him arms, his expression slightly disgruntled but this was barely discernable to the untrained eye. John however, was already finding the puzzle that was William Birkin highly addictive and was practicing reading the man's emotions at every opportunity yet Birkin was just to hard to work out, at least at such an early point in John's relationship with him. John couldn't tell weather Birkin was pretending to be displeased or weather he was trying to hide it, but if that was so, John had pretty much learnt already that Birkin wasn't the type to try something and fail at it, so what WAS going on inside that perverse head of his? What kind of-
-"Why are you looking at me like that, Mr Howe?" Cut in William who had, in turn, been watching John gawp at him with a look of puzzlement of his face.
John had been unexpectedly torn out of his musings and could only reply in gibberish. "Duh - I Uh -Well - It's!!"-
-"Never mind. . ." William again cut in as he rolled his eyes. The other researcher who were still all huddled around the now blank computer screen hadn't moved or even breathed too heavily since William had discovered them, possibly out of fear of their jobs. "How long are you planning to stay like that?" William asked them, and guiltily, the small crowd of grown men slowly dispersed.
"Back so soon?" Commented John, somewhat grumpy from lack of sleep. Birkin was odd. John had called him a freak and he took it like a joke but when he acted surprised when he found out he had a wife, Birkin went totally off the deep end, considering just how insignificant John's comment had been. . .
"And what do you mean by that, Mr. Howe?" Birkin asked frowning slightly in an attempt to somehow ward John off of the line of conversation. John pretended he hadn't noticed.
"You stormed off pretty huffy earlier and now you're back to normal just like that." William's frown deepened. "Why are you looking at me like that??" -
-"Why did you sound so surprised when I told you I had a wife??"-
-"I"-
-"Do you suppose me so revolting???" -
-"Actually"-
-"Do you honestly believe I'm so unappealing to the weaker sex that I don't even have a wife???"-
-". . ."
". . ." William blew his fringe harshly out of his face with an angry puff and span around, disgusted by the sight of the man.
". . . You know. . . I don't have a wife. . ." Muttered John, taken very aback but the outburst of emotion. "So. I guess that makes you more appealing to the chicks than me. . ." William turned back to John to seem him looking down at his hands, roughly playing with his fingers out of nervousness. William let himself smile but stopped when John glanced back up for his approval.
". . ." William wasn't certain how to reply for a moment; it had been a while since someone had got him this speechless. . .
The longer the silence went on for, the more John wished he would disappear suddenly and be free of this horrible feeling of emotional strangulation, that every part of his soul was in torture. William savoured the look on John's face, wanting to make him stew a bit for 'insulting' him through the use of his wife, weather he meant to or not.
" I mean, I called you a freak back there and you didn't even batter an eyelid! If you tolerated that, then of course I didn't think you'd overreact over something tiny like that!" William laughed and shook his head. John had an opportunity to repair a very nasty situation with his boss and had just butchered it totally. John looked at him with utter shock and disgust as William choked down his chuckling. John just really couldn't work out that man! He had just unwittingly said something that should've drove him berserk but he was laughing! And heartily too!! John's jaw dropped." . . ! What the hell are you laughing at!?!" He yelled, furious with the man for treating his torn and beaten nerves like this. He should've just got pissed with him like a normal person! He probably could've handled it more. . . "God, I'm sick of this!" He threw up his hands and watched in disgust as Birkin cackled his head off, purposefully trying to rattle John even further. "It'll take more than that to freak me out, you moron!!" He called out to him just as Birkin left through the door. "Man, I hate him!" He muttered to himself, but then, looking up, he realized that everyone in the room was starting at him with wide eyes and large smirks. "Argh, Don't bother!" He growled.
***
Well, that may have seemed like a bit of a short and pointless chapter, but it's supposed to show you where William's emotional priorities are; not on himself, but on his wife. In other words, he sees comments made at himself as petty idiocy, but if it's directed at those he most cares about, that's when he really flips.
*** "Go left. Left!! I SAID LEFT!!!"
"I AM going left!!"
"No I meant go MY left!!"
"Oh for the love of God! I can't go back that way now!!"
"Well it's you fault for not being able to tell left from right!!"
"You were saying to go YOUR left! How am I supposed to know!?" John watched Bill thump his slim fingers down on the directional buttons on the keyboard with an increasing emotion within him that he couldn't quite work out. It was like someone had left a pressure cooker on inside him. . . His already boiling blood began to char his very bones as he watched that idiot Rabbitson fumble the keyboard and the character on the screen go bouncing around, flying off cliffs and diving into boiling lava.
"Change into wolf form!!" One of the others researchers yelled at Bill. "It can't get you in wolf form!!!" John watched the small, poorly rendered wolf bounce from metal spike to metal spike like a pinball and an almighty roar of discontent rose from the spectators.
"You moron!!! Change Back!! CHANGE BACK!!!"
"I'm trying!!!!"
-But suddenly the picture on the P.C screen disappeared-
"WHAT DID YOU PRESS?!?!"
"I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING!!!" Still sitting in the leathery wheelie chair, Bill checked around the P.C for loose cables but his eyes stopped dead in mild shock when they came to a pale damp hand that could only have belonged to one man.
"This isn't play time, boys." William said in his calm, deep voice. DR. Birkin then folded him arms, his expression slightly disgruntled but this was barely discernable to the untrained eye. John however, was already finding the puzzle that was William Birkin highly addictive and was practicing reading the man's emotions at every opportunity yet Birkin was just to hard to work out, at least at such an early point in John's relationship with him. John couldn't tell weather Birkin was pretending to be displeased or weather he was trying to hide it, but if that was so, John had pretty much learnt already that Birkin wasn't the type to try something and fail at it, so what WAS going on inside that perverse head of his? What kind of-
-"Why are you looking at me like that, Mr Howe?" Cut in William who had, in turn, been watching John gawp at him with a look of puzzlement of his face.
John had been unexpectedly torn out of his musings and could only reply in gibberish. "Duh - I Uh -Well - It's!!"-
-"Never mind. . ." William again cut in as he rolled his eyes. The other researcher who were still all huddled around the now blank computer screen hadn't moved or even breathed too heavily since William had discovered them, possibly out of fear of their jobs. "How long are you planning to stay like that?" William asked them, and guiltily, the small crowd of grown men slowly dispersed.
"Back so soon?" Commented John, somewhat grumpy from lack of sleep. Birkin was odd. John had called him a freak and he took it like a joke but when he acted surprised when he found out he had a wife, Birkin went totally off the deep end, considering just how insignificant John's comment had been. . .
"And what do you mean by that, Mr. Howe?" Birkin asked frowning slightly in an attempt to somehow ward John off of the line of conversation. John pretended he hadn't noticed.
"You stormed off pretty huffy earlier and now you're back to normal just like that." William's frown deepened. "Why are you looking at me like that??" -
-"Why did you sound so surprised when I told you I had a wife??"-
-"I"-
-"Do you suppose me so revolting???" -
-"Actually"-
-"Do you honestly believe I'm so unappealing to the weaker sex that I don't even have a wife???"-
-". . ."
". . ." William blew his fringe harshly out of his face with an angry puff and span around, disgusted by the sight of the man.
". . . You know. . . I don't have a wife. . ." Muttered John, taken very aback but the outburst of emotion. "So. I guess that makes you more appealing to the chicks than me. . ." William turned back to John to seem him looking down at his hands, roughly playing with his fingers out of nervousness. William let himself smile but stopped when John glanced back up for his approval.
". . ." William wasn't certain how to reply for a moment; it had been a while since someone had got him this speechless. . .
The longer the silence went on for, the more John wished he would disappear suddenly and be free of this horrible feeling of emotional strangulation, that every part of his soul was in torture. William savoured the look on John's face, wanting to make him stew a bit for 'insulting' him through the use of his wife, weather he meant to or not.
" I mean, I called you a freak back there and you didn't even batter an eyelid! If you tolerated that, then of course I didn't think you'd overreact over something tiny like that!" William laughed and shook his head. John had an opportunity to repair a very nasty situation with his boss and had just butchered it totally. John looked at him with utter shock and disgust as William choked down his chuckling. John just really couldn't work out that man! He had just unwittingly said something that should've drove him berserk but he was laughing! And heartily too!! John's jaw dropped." . . ! What the hell are you laughing at!?!" He yelled, furious with the man for treating his torn and beaten nerves like this. He should've just got pissed with him like a normal person! He probably could've handled it more. . . "God, I'm sick of this!" He threw up his hands and watched in disgust as Birkin cackled his head off, purposefully trying to rattle John even further. "It'll take more than that to freak me out, you moron!!" He called out to him just as Birkin left through the door. "Man, I hate him!" He muttered to himself, but then, looking up, he realized that everyone in the room was starting at him with wide eyes and large smirks. "Argh, Don't bother!" He growled.
***
Well, that may have seemed like a bit of a short and pointless chapter, but it's supposed to show you where William's emotional priorities are; not on himself, but on his wife. In other words, he sees comments made at himself as petty idiocy, but if it's directed at those he most cares about, that's when he really flips.