A Pink Corner House, Bristol, Sunday Afternoon

[chosehumanity]

"We don't need your custom."

"Oi, you pedo!"

"Fucking bastard."

"Could have been any of our kids. Stay the fuck away."

Trust Portalocity not to cut Mitchell a break in the worst possible week for it. There was no getting away from the incriminations, the shouting - he couldn't even go down to Tesco's anymore without getting things yanked out of his hands.

And so Mitchell was stuck on the couch. Watching telly, becoming increasingly more fed up with everything and everyone. He'd tried, at first, to explain things to Fleur - that had just gotten him another angry neighbour in the face. Then he'd tried going about his normal business with his head down, but that hadn't worked, either.

Now...

"I am not the pervert, that's my housemate!" George bellowed through the door upon entry. "And... and actually he's not a pervert either! You've all got it very wrong." There was a thunk as the door slammed shut behind him.

Mitchell looked up, and took in George's appearance: tomato gunk dripping down his shirt and hair. He winced. "They got you too, then?"

"I managed to dodge most of it," George muttered, sopping a little on his way to the sofa. "Shame the house couldn't. Covered in rotten tomatoes."

The telly blared on. Mitchell glared at it. Sort of. There was a fair bit of sulking involved.

"Who keeps their rotten tomatoes?" Yeah, Mitchell didn't need to look up to know this was the start of another George rant. He just wasn't in the mood to deal with it. "Who looks in the salad cooler, sees their tomatoes are on the turn, and thinks, "Oh, oh, no, I'll hang on to those, in case some paedos move in opposite"?" George slammed the fridge door shut in righteous anger.

"It'll blow over soon," Mitchell muttered.

"Wankers!"

The sofa dipped under George's weight. He rubbed at his brow. "If they want us out," George continued, "...they're succeeding."

Mitchell's head had never whipped over this quickly. "Don't let Annie hear you say that," he said, "We're all she's got."

"I mean it, Mitchell." George took a deep breath, and reached for the remote. Thoughtlessly, like an automaton. Mitchell wanted to punch something. "This was always going to happen. Soon as they found out what we are."

Jesus. "They don't know what we are," Mitchell said, and if there was a snarl in his voice, so be it. "They've seen a mob and piled on, 'cause it's easier than having to stop and think." That was the downside of it, with humans. They never bloody thought, did they? For all their niceties, their charms...

"That's what I should have done," George snapped. "Thought! Then I'd never have got Nina involved in any of this."

Could George be any more self-involved? "She isn't involved in this," he said, with a patience he didn't really feel. Mostly, he wanted to throw things.

"She's involved with me," George insisted.

"Oh, for--"

"We've been deluding ourselves we could ever be accepted here." George sounded close to tears, almost, a little edged and a little desperate. "By proper human beings. We are monsters, Mitchell. We deserve to be cast out."

For one terribly uncharitable moment, Mitchell wanted to punch Fleur for setting George back this far; for one terribly uncharitable moment, Mitchell really fucking hated humans.

It passed for about as long as it took for the tomatoes to resume.

[[ nfb and ooc-okay, but also open to phone calls! Taken from Being Human 1x04. Warning: Thread has mentions of a minor being exposed to pornography ]]

Comments

[vanillajello]

It just wasn't a good week in general, was it? Though Kate's, at least, had gotten better towards the end. Which meant that by now, Kshe actually felt up to checking in with her favorite Irish dork. Who didn't have a class listed for the new term. Which was... interesting.

Riiiing.

[chosehumanity]

"Hello."

Mitchell's voice on the other end of the line certainly sounded like he'd been sulking.

[vanillajello]

And Kate was picking up on that.

"Wow, who pissed in your cereal?"

[chosehumanity]

"People," Mitchell said, flatly. "They're all useless sods, aren't they?"

Cheery.

[vanillajello]

"I'm people, and I'm not," Kate pointed out. If there was the faint sound clicking in the background, that was just because she was absently looking at things on her laptop while talking. "What did people do now?"

[chosehumanity]

"Bloody pack animals just waiting for a reason to pick up the torches and pitchforks, doesn't matter what it is."

Mitchell seemed quite set on his rant, as it were. Beside him, George looked about ten seconds from taking the phone from him.

[vanillajello]

That actually got Kate's full attention, because... Well, because any mention of mob mentality in a tone like that from him just wasn't good.

"...Huh?"

So eloquent.

[chosehumanity]

"The whole-- George, what the fucking--"

He shoved George away before he could get in the thick ofi t.

"Remember Bernie?"

[vanillajello]

"Yeah...?" She said it slowly, kind of really sounding like she didn't like where this was going. "Mitchell, what did you do?"

[chosehumanity]

"Turns out he doesn't know Laurel and Hardy, so I thought I'd lend him a DVD," Mitchell muttered, in a mixture of frustration and that I've spent the past two days sulking on my sofa voice. "Told him to go upstairs and get one, but he grabbed the wrong case."

[vanillajello]

Was this going in a direction Kate would like better? No, apparently not.

"And which one was that?"

[chosehumanity]

"The entire neighbourhood now thinks I'm a--" Mitchell made a strangled noise. "It doesn't matter. Nevermind. I'll be back when Portalocity lets me."

[vanillajello]

"Thinks you're a what, Mitchell?"

Well, he'd given her enough to feel worried. And she'd rather have the specifics, not that that would help with anything.

Kate could tell it wasn't vampire, because she thought then he'd said they knew he was one, not that they thought so.

[chosehumanity]

"A fucking paedophile," Mitchell exploded, at last. Behind him, George jumped. "Can you believe that?! Fucking mob sheep!"

[vanillajello]

"What?" No, really, just... "What?"

Okay, it was official. Neighbors fucking sucked this week.

[chosehumanity]

"And they're not going to let me explain," Mitchell continued on, doggedly, because that genie was definitely out of the bottle now, "Because they'd rather graffiti my walls and throw rotten tomatoes at my house. George just got caught out in a barrage--"

"I managed to dodge most of them," George piped up, in the background.

"--and they just keep goin'."

[vanillajello]

"Oh what the fucking fuck."

Well, that was Kate's happy Sunday well and truly ruined. But at least this time she was angry instead of sad and conflicted.

"People do that?"

[chosehumanity]

"It's like the bloody witch trials all over again."

Never say that Mitchell didn't have a flair for the dramatic.

(Behind him, George bent over the sofa and added, "And none of them even know how to spell pedo. It's with one e, for god's sake," before Mitchell managed to hush him.)

[vanillajello]

"Well, I'm glad to hear George is at least taking it in a very George-like manner," Kate deadpanned, rubbing the spot above one of her eyes. "Can't you come here? Is Portalocity being a total bitch again?"

[chosehumanity]

"It's telling me the channel's blocked off temporarily," Mitchell replied. You could clearly read the I wouldn't be surprised if they were in on it from his voice.

Kate being sympathetic helped, though.

[vanillajello]

"Well that's just fucking awesome." Kate sounded like she was inclined to agree with that kind of paranoia.

"You coulda come here and taunt me about my high expectations and low level of experience while I look for a job."

[chosehumanity]

"Try the Presidential elections." Mitchell was not in high quipping form. "I'm tackling the movie theatre if I manage to get back."

[vanillajello]

"You bought the movie theater?" Oh the surprises, they just kept coming. "Okay."

[chosehumanity]

"Just a share of it. They were having trouble," Mitchell muttered, eying his television. "Thought I'd lend a hand."

[vanillajello]

"Well. Are there going to be good movies, at least?"

Priorities. Kate had them.

[chosehumanity]

"Have we met?"

Honestly, Kate.

"Jesus christ, Kate, have a little faith."

[vanillajello]

"What, they could be boring."

Also, she'd walked out from one of the movies he'd actually shown at the theater.

Hadn't been because of the movie, but anyway.

"Cut me some slack, I was just at home with Moosh and his policy of only watching things that are in black and white."

[chosehumanity]

"Black and white isn't always too bad."

Mitchell, for one, was currently watching a very engrossing black and white monster movie. There were mobs. With torches, and pitchforks.

He was rooting rather violently against them.

[vanillajello]

If only Kate would've known. She would've had things to say about that.

"Well, of course you'd say that," she retorted instead, affording her computer some attention again by clicking on the tab that held a Baltimore job search. "Anyway, it starts getting pretty bad once there are subtitles involved."

[chosehumanity]

"And you're simply saying that because you're a cultural barbarian." Look, Mitchell hadn't had a decent, non-screaming conversation with a human being in... four days or so. He was going to cling to the chance, despite the various insults to her species. "So you're going to be working, eh?"

[vanillajello]

"Not a barbarian, I just have an up-to-date taste."

That happened to include a lot of bad eighties, early nineties comedies. Among other things.

She sighed. "Yeah, I'm looking at job ads right now. Just need to have a reason to get off this island, like, regularly. And I could use the money."

[bitten_notshy]

Jack was giving Mitchell a call for about the stupidest possible reason; Sebastien had thought metaThe Maltese Falcon was poorly plotted, and he needed either another movie recommendation, or back-up to support his position that style trumped substance in that case. checking up in general was lower on his agenda.

He dialed.

[OOC: SP comes with chocolate sauce?]

[chosehumanity]

Mitchell answered.

"Oh, lovely. Another one of ye."

...Yes.

[bitten_notshy]

"I always appreciate a cheerful greeting," Jack said, after just the slightest momentary break of wondering if Mitchell had lost his mind or something. "What's wrong?"

[chosehumanity]

"Nothing, beyond another fine reminder of human mob mentality," Mitchell replied. No, he still wasn't over that. He wasn't likely to be anytime soon, either.

[bitten_notshy]

That was Not Good. Discussion of Humphrey Bogart movies could wait.

"Are you going to be all right?" Jack asked, stiffening a bit.

[chosehumanity]

"If Portalocity lets me the hell out of here," Mitchell muttered, "But even then-- fucking--" Somethingorother.

[bitten_notshy]

"Portalocity's got you locked in?" Jack was getting more worried by the second. "Are they telling you why? And what are you trying to get away from?"

[chosehumanity]

"Just some technical difficulties," Mitchell said, bundling up further. He was sounding considerably sulky. "I made a mistake. There was this kid, Bernie-- he'd never seen Laurel and Hardy before, so I told him to pick a DVD, I'd lend it to him. Turns out it was the wrong disk, now the whole bloody neighbourhood's acting like I'm a paedo. Might as well be getting out the torches."

[bitten_notshy]

"And of course no one wants to hear your side," Jack said, exasperated with humanity. He didn't like mobs either. Another question occurred to him. "... what was on the DVD?"

Jack didn't think Mitchell had done anything wrong. But a whole lot of past experience rose like bile in his throat, making him sound wary.

[chosehumanity]

"Just porn," he said, trying and succeeding not to let his voice twist; to any human's reckoning, and the only thing that mattered in terms of their perception, that's just what it was. "And yeah. They're too busy flinging tomatoes."

[bitten_notshy]

Jack bit back the well, hide that better. For one, it wasn't a topic he especially wanted to discuss; for another, if Mitchell couldn't work that one out on his own, it was his problem.

"What are you going to do?" he asked. "If Portalocity isn't to the rescue, I mean. Is George all right?"

[chosehumanity]

"Sit it out, and hope they don't try to burn down the building," he all but snarled, and propped his feet up on the end table. "George's throwing fits because our friendly mob can't spell. And about the quality of their tomatoes."

So, you know. George.

[bitten_notshy]

"Because it's much better to get a high-quality tomato thrown at you," Jack noted, and sighed. He thought they'd get through it, but the whole thing seemed so messy.

"All right. I'd say you could come here if you wanted, but it doesn't sound as though that's any use. Anything I could do?"

[chosehumanity]

"Tell your Sebastien not to let anyone pin anything on him," Mitchell grouched. "People can be fucking foul to each other if their brains stop working."

Yes. Thank you, Mitchell. You are so very helpful to everyone today.

[bitten_notshy]

Jack snorted. "We already had that fight a few times, though not as badly as you're going through it now," he said.

Jack looked young even for his age, and was not always able to resist staking a physical claim on Sebastien in public. They'd dealt with their share of discomfited observers.

"But yes, I'll remind him to stick to adult company."