voice test.

[knockfourtimes]

Look. Let's not pretend I want to be here, or that you have any idea what it is you're doing. As far as you're concerned, this is a game. An experiment, some twisted opportunity to play junior psychiatrist. It's sick. Not to mention an inconvenience and a scam.

But why should you care? No one's stopping you. Nothing can. It's the way of the world.

Don't start in on that Camus crap. I don't want to hear it. I don't need to hear it. No one does.

Keep it to yourself, and I don't care how you waste your time. I won't stand here arguing with you; I have enough to take care of. And whatever it is you think you're doing, you aren't helping a goddamn thing.

Comments

[dissatisfied]

Well.

—Look what the cat dragged in.

!!

[knockfourtimes]

I wish I could say I'm glad to see you here, but the cat's been rough.

if i say i'm not up to date on the current season do i get only one exclamation point D:

[dissatisfied]

It always is. It's either suffering or it's punishment, and there isn't a thing you can do about it.

might actually earn an extra point with don, heh. 'sides, joan's lovely at any point.

[knockfourtimes]

[This whole place plays hell on his understanding, and Don's starting to get the sense that it might be best to simply play along in the moment.]

Turns out that's true, no matter where you are.

At least you seem to be in one piece.

aw shucks.

[dissatisfied]

C'est la vie.

[ She says it with a smile, but there's a certain bitterness etched there even as she shrugs. ]

I've been told I have a certain tenacity for life.

[knockfourtimes]

[No one makes it through unmarked. Joan might be one of the most indomitable women Don has known, and she remains largely an unknown quantity - her obscurity both unsettles Don and gives way to an uncommon respect - but there have been trials that must have shaken her.]

Lucky for us. We may need to throw together another agency over here. [It's a joke, though his heart isn't in it.]

[dissatisfied]

[ Joan used to have a ring on her finger, and she has a baby, and she doesn't love the father of her child but she damn well doesn't love her husband either. The trials, those tribulations — the ones that shape her aren't the ones that shape you, Don, but maybe there's overlap there. Misery does love company.

She tsks lightly. ]

Morose is a bad color on you.

[knockfourtimes]

We all have our moments. [Only a slight smile with that, and he doesn't bother to cover the passing trepidation in it. Once in a while, he allows himself to show through. It won't last on the surface, and it isn't the only truth about Don Draper, but it's a glance of something at his root and unyielding.]

How've you been keeping yourself entertained?

[dissatisfied]

Little bit of this, little bit of that. [ She purses her lips together, the red bow of her mouth tightening into a smile that's false but undoubtedly pleasant. It's a put-upon kind of coy, though she drops the pretense as soon as the sentence is over. ]

Gathering dust, mostly. It's a quiet life.

[knockfourtimes]

With you? I find that hard to believe.

please to be ignoring the dust and the fact that i'm not caught up at all.

[idealized]

Are you sure she actually intends to help, Don? [ Because if she's anything like Betty's mun, she's out to make his life harder, not easier. ]

:D!

[knockfourtimes]

[He doesn't know what to expect from Betty anymore, but the sight of her isn't exactly unwelcome.] I wouldn't believe it for a moment.

Hello, Betts.

:D

[idealized]

[ The slight lifting of the corner of her mouth could hardly be called a smile, but it's her best attempt at being polite. ] Hello, Don. How are you? Other than frustrated with your girl.