Pam Swynford De Beaufort (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
lazy_but_loyal) wrote2014-09-06 04:12 pm
lazy_but_loyal) wrote2014-09-06 04:12 pm
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Well, that was an interesting evening.
'Interesting' meaning stressful as fuck, of course.
So she does what she does best when under pressure: she gets herself all dolled up.
She has a feeling Eric will send her out again tonight instead of having her work the door, so she keeps things simple and conservative with a nice fucshia cardigan. The patterned skirt, pumps, and Gucci handbag match as well.
As if they wouldn't.
Heading down the hallway toward Eric's office, she hears...music. He must be brooding. He always listens to that old-world music when he's brooding. But she expects that, especially after what happened last night.
The clicking of her high heels announce her presence before she does. She knocks on the office door out of courtesy and not necessity, as Eric will already know it's her. Upon entering the office, she finds him just as she expects to as well, but she makes no comment on that. She makes no comment on theweird music either.
In fact she makes no comment on anything at all, as she stands in front of his desk, her arms crossed expectantly, waiting for him to say something first.
His eyes are closed, as he sits there, letting the music fill the silence.
He looks tired.
Then he opens his eyes and takes his feet off the table.
"I want you to do your rounds tonight," he says. "I'll need you to stop by Sookie on the way."
Which is - one way to start a conversation with Pam. Likely not the best, though.
He opens a drawer and takes out a filled-in check. It's not for $10,000.
He holds it out to Pam.
Taking the check, she raises an eyebrow at the increased amount, then tucks it away into her handbag.
"Any message I should give her, too? Just to make my visit worthwhile."
Because stopping by Sookie's house is going to take a lot of effort.
"Tell her -"
He gets up to turn off the music, conveniently ending up with his back to Pam.
"Tell her that I appreciate what she did for - me."
For Godric.
The music stops abruptly.
He runs a finger across the backs of the books on the shelf, as if he hasn't already looked at them a million times.
"When you get back, we'll tally up the results. And I'll call Sophie-Ann."
He manages to make it not sound like a concession.
And she's well aware of what he's doing.
She's half-surprised, yet half-not. Her expression won't show a thing, of course. But she is relieved that he listened to her.
Any other circumstance and she'd tease him about it, but this is a life-or-death situation and she knows well enough to hold her tongue. Besides, she would never undermine him when he needs to be at his best.
"What are you going to tell her?" she asks.
He pinches the bridge of his nose. And sighs.
"Just the facts. That he is gone and that we don't know where to."
His finger stops at a random book and he stares at it as if its faded gilded letters somehow holds the key to how to proceed.
"I met him, back when I went to ask her about the Maenad," he continues. "I wish I knew how close they are."
Pam knits her brows a little, but nods faintly, even if he isn't facing her to see it.
"Well, even with Bill missing, I doubt she wants the Magister finding out that she's involved, too. She may still be able to get us out of this. Even if we can't trust her. You know she only has her own best interests at heart."
Which is fine for a vampire in general, but not when you're in a position of authority and have responsibilities. Responsibilities seem to have fallen off the Queen's to-do list lately.
"She's a fucking cunt," he says, hotly all of a sudden.
Remembering his last encounter, her inane chatter, her utter disregard of his grief.
The fact that he has to bow his head to her, even though she is weaker than him.
He clamps down on the rising anger and turns to face Pam.
"Who's coming in tonight?"
Please let it be Ginger's night off.
"It's Ginger's night off--"
So there's that!
"--but the usual suspects, as usual. And Yvetta has a shift," she adds, perhaps as a way to distract him and keep him calm. "She has this new leather corset that she's been dying to show off to you."
He is thankful for small mercies.
And leather corsets.
"I'll hold down the the fort then," he says. And then he adds, "Be nice to her, Pam."
He doesn't have to be specific. They both know who she is.
She gives him her most pleasant look, the corner of her mouth ticking upwards.
"Why do you think I'm wearing so much pink tonight?"
It's her 'nice' color.
He steps close and runs a finger along the edge of her collar.
"It always makes me a little uneasy when you dress up like that," he murmurs. "You hardly look like you."
Smiling. Just a little.
She looks up at him with a smile of her own, one that reaches her eyes.
"But you like it," she insists, her tone sly and playful.
"I do," he agrees. "And I like it even more when you do your job. Get to it, Pam."
With a slow and sassy blink of her long eyelashes, Pam turns on her heel and sashays out the door. She can only hope that Eric keeps his head on straight and that when she returns later tonight, the place will still be standing.
Meanwhile, Eric walks back to his chair. There's half an hour till they open. It'll be fine.
What can go wrong?
----
Area 5, the area of which Eric is sheriff, is not a small area. It includes Shreveport and its surrounding parishes within twenty miles inside Louisiana state borders. There are a lot of vampires living in these backwoods. And a lot of V dealers. More than there ought to be, but Pam really can't give a shit. If vampires want to subject themselves to being drained for whatever reason, they can go have a ball.
It's the human dealers that are especially repulsive, though. They range from hot shot college kids with trust funds, to suit-and-tie bankers and lawyers (they're the users more than they are dealers), to toothless rednecks raising goats. But the only thing that matters in the end is that they pull in the cash. They know the consequences if they don't pay up on time, and worse, if they're found out.
In any case, getting a visit from Eric's special little enforcer, who is often in a bad mood because she's had to tromp through pig mud in her favorite shoes, is always a treat.
Pam knocks on a ratty trailer door.
A chained dog starts to bark at her; she glares at it; it shuts up and slinks back into its crate, whining.
The door opens.
"Miss De Beaufort!" the man exclaims. He's wearing only a stained wifebeater and boxer shorts. The sound of a baseball game can be heard blaring on the TV. "I- I wasn't expecting you!"
"I enjoy catching people off guard, although it can have its drawbacks," she says dryly, eyeing his clothes with distaste. "I'm here with a message from Mr. Northman."
If the man was panicked before, he's even more panicked now.
"I swear I'll have the money ready-"
"It's not that, Mr. Alfonse. Right now he just needs you to sell more, and sell faster."
She reaches into her handbag and pulls out an insulated pouch containing several small vials of vampire blood.
"But I haven't sold all of the first batch you gave me yet."
"Then you'd better," she says sweetly, "or else my next visit won't be such a pleasant surprise."
He looks uncertain about this, but as he turns the bag over in his hands, he nods. "All right, Miss De Beaufort, I'll try."
"I'm sure you'll do your best. Also, I'll take what cash you have now and pick up the rest in a couple of days." It's as fair a warning as she can give him.
"Sure thing, Miss De Beaufort. Whatever you say."
Humans can be very obedient when the proper amount of pressure is applied.
"Uh- would you like to come in?" he asks.
Pam's expression doesn't change even as she eyes the sorry state of the inside of his trailer. "No, thank you. I'm in kind of a rush and I wasn't planning on getting deloused."
He gives her a blank look, then utters a short bark of a laugh, mostly out of nervousness. "I'll just be a sec," he says, before shuffling inside. He returns shortly with an envelope, which he hands over to her.
She flicks at it. "It's a little thin, isn't it? But I suppose it'll do in short notice." And she slips it into her bag. "Remember what I said. You don't want to disappoint Mr. Northman."
"Nope! No, no, of course not!"
"Good to hear." She smiles again, toothily. "Ta-ta for now."
And she disappears into the night at vampire speed, leaving Mr. Alfonse speechless and his dog cowering with its paws over its snout.
----
Oh, Bon Temps, how Pam abhors you. The rural backwater town had become even less appealing ever since Sookie Stackhouse came into the picture. Fortunately it's on the tail end of her errands, and as she knocks on the old house's door, it's with a forced sense of cheer.
Sookie peers through the window at her.
"May I?" Pam asks. Nicely.
The girl opens the door and invites her in quite easily.
The house, however... Well. The walls and ceilings are still crawling with withering branches and vines left over from when those otherworldly nature freaks took over.
"Now, why'd you have to go and kill that Maenad?" Pam says, casting her gaze around the room. "She's a terrific decorator."
Sookie has just one thing on her mind, though. "Any news about Bill?" she asks eagerly.
"No, just making my nightly rounds," Pam replies. "And Eric wanted me to give you this." She presents her with the check.
Sookie takes it and stares at it. "This is too much. It's only supposed to be ten."
Pam smiles. "We know. Eric wanted to give you a bonus for going above and beyond."
The girl doesn't look as if she knows exactly how to respond. After trying on a couple of different expressions, she finally says, "Well, tell him thanks. I guess."
It's all Pam can do to keep from snorting and rolling her eyes. "I'll say you sounded more appreciative than that."
Suddenly she gets that familiar shiver again, the echo coursing throughout her body, and it visibly moves her, so much so that Sookie notices.
"What was that?"
"It was Eric, calling me," Pam explains. "I should probably check in."
"He can call you?"
Pam doesn't stick around to enlighten her with further explanations. She's off in a blur out the door.
***
[NOTE: Dialogue and narration in scene with Eric written withonceaviking. Dialogue in scene with Sookie taken directly from True Blood episode 3x01.]
'Interesting' meaning stressful as fuck, of course.
So she does what she does best when under pressure: she gets herself all dolled up.
She has a feeling Eric will send her out again tonight instead of having her work the door, so she keeps things simple and conservative with a nice fucshia cardigan. The patterned skirt, pumps, and Gucci handbag match as well.
As if they wouldn't.
Heading down the hallway toward Eric's office, she hears...music. He must be brooding. He always listens to that old-world music when he's brooding. But she expects that, especially after what happened last night.
The clicking of her high heels announce her presence before she does. She knocks on the office door out of courtesy and not necessity, as Eric will already know it's her. Upon entering the office, she finds him just as she expects to as well, but she makes no comment on that. She makes no comment on the
In fact she makes no comment on anything at all, as she stands in front of his desk, her arms crossed expectantly, waiting for him to say something first.
His eyes are closed, as he sits there, letting the music fill the silence.
He looks tired.
Then he opens his eyes and takes his feet off the table.
"I want you to do your rounds tonight," he says. "I'll need you to stop by Sookie on the way."
Which is - one way to start a conversation with Pam. Likely not the best, though.
He opens a drawer and takes out a filled-in check. It's not for $10,000.
He holds it out to Pam.
Taking the check, she raises an eyebrow at the increased amount, then tucks it away into her handbag.
"Any message I should give her, too? Just to make my visit worthwhile."
Because stopping by Sookie's house is going to take a lot of effort.
"Tell her -"
He gets up to turn off the music, conveniently ending up with his back to Pam.
"Tell her that I appreciate what she did for - me."
For Godric.
The music stops abruptly.
He runs a finger across the backs of the books on the shelf, as if he hasn't already looked at them a million times.
"When you get back, we'll tally up the results. And I'll call Sophie-Ann."
He manages to make it not sound like a concession.
And she's well aware of what he's doing.
She's half-surprised, yet half-not. Her expression won't show a thing, of course. But she is relieved that he listened to her.
Any other circumstance and she'd tease him about it, but this is a life-or-death situation and she knows well enough to hold her tongue. Besides, she would never undermine him when he needs to be at his best.
"What are you going to tell her?" she asks.
He pinches the bridge of his nose. And sighs.
"Just the facts. That he is gone and that we don't know where to."
His finger stops at a random book and he stares at it as if its faded gilded letters somehow holds the key to how to proceed.
"I met him, back when I went to ask her about the Maenad," he continues. "I wish I knew how close they are."
Pam knits her brows a little, but nods faintly, even if he isn't facing her to see it.
"Well, even with Bill missing, I doubt she wants the Magister finding out that she's involved, too. She may still be able to get us out of this. Even if we can't trust her. You know she only has her own best interests at heart."
Which is fine for a vampire in general, but not when you're in a position of authority and have responsibilities. Responsibilities seem to have fallen off the Queen's to-do list lately.
"She's a fucking cunt," he says, hotly all of a sudden.
Remembering his last encounter, her inane chatter, her utter disregard of his grief.
The fact that he has to bow his head to her, even though she is weaker than him.
He clamps down on the rising anger and turns to face Pam.
"Who's coming in tonight?"
Please let it be Ginger's night off.
"It's Ginger's night off--"
So there's that!
"--but the usual suspects, as usual. And Yvetta has a shift," she adds, perhaps as a way to distract him and keep him calm. "She has this new leather corset that she's been dying to show off to you."
He is thankful for small mercies.
And leather corsets.
"I'll hold down the the fort then," he says. And then he adds, "Be nice to her, Pam."
He doesn't have to be specific. They both know who she is.
She gives him her most pleasant look, the corner of her mouth ticking upwards.
"Why do you think I'm wearing so much pink tonight?"
It's her 'nice' color.
He steps close and runs a finger along the edge of her collar.
"It always makes me a little uneasy when you dress up like that," he murmurs. "You hardly look like you."
Smiling. Just a little.
She looks up at him with a smile of her own, one that reaches her eyes.
"But you like it," she insists, her tone sly and playful.
"I do," he agrees. "And I like it even more when you do your job. Get to it, Pam."
With a slow and sassy blink of her long eyelashes, Pam turns on her heel and sashays out the door. She can only hope that Eric keeps his head on straight and that when she returns later tonight, the place will still be standing.
Meanwhile, Eric walks back to his chair. There's half an hour till they open. It'll be fine.
What can go wrong?
----
Area 5, the area of which Eric is sheriff, is not a small area. It includes Shreveport and its surrounding parishes within twenty miles inside Louisiana state borders. There are a lot of vampires living in these backwoods. And a lot of V dealers. More than there ought to be, but Pam really can't give a shit. If vampires want to subject themselves to being drained for whatever reason, they can go have a ball.
It's the human dealers that are especially repulsive, though. They range from hot shot college kids with trust funds, to suit-and-tie bankers and lawyers (they're the users more than they are dealers), to toothless rednecks raising goats. But the only thing that matters in the end is that they pull in the cash. They know the consequences if they don't pay up on time, and worse, if they're found out.
In any case, getting a visit from Eric's special little enforcer, who is often in a bad mood because she's had to tromp through pig mud in her favorite shoes, is always a treat.
Pam knocks on a ratty trailer door.
A chained dog starts to bark at her; she glares at it; it shuts up and slinks back into its crate, whining.
The door opens.
"Miss De Beaufort!" the man exclaims. He's wearing only a stained wifebeater and boxer shorts. The sound of a baseball game can be heard blaring on the TV. "I- I wasn't expecting you!"
"I enjoy catching people off guard, although it can have its drawbacks," she says dryly, eyeing his clothes with distaste. "I'm here with a message from Mr. Northman."
If the man was panicked before, he's even more panicked now.
"I swear I'll have the money ready-"
"It's not that, Mr. Alfonse. Right now he just needs you to sell more, and sell faster."
She reaches into her handbag and pulls out an insulated pouch containing several small vials of vampire blood.
"But I haven't sold all of the first batch you gave me yet."
"Then you'd better," she says sweetly, "or else my next visit won't be such a pleasant surprise."
He looks uncertain about this, but as he turns the bag over in his hands, he nods. "All right, Miss De Beaufort, I'll try."
"I'm sure you'll do your best. Also, I'll take what cash you have now and pick up the rest in a couple of days." It's as fair a warning as she can give him.
"Sure thing, Miss De Beaufort. Whatever you say."
Humans can be very obedient when the proper amount of pressure is applied.
"Uh- would you like to come in?" he asks.
Pam's expression doesn't change even as she eyes the sorry state of the inside of his trailer. "No, thank you. I'm in kind of a rush and I wasn't planning on getting deloused."
He gives her a blank look, then utters a short bark of a laugh, mostly out of nervousness. "I'll just be a sec," he says, before shuffling inside. He returns shortly with an envelope, which he hands over to her.
She flicks at it. "It's a little thin, isn't it? But I suppose it'll do in short notice." And she slips it into her bag. "Remember what I said. You don't want to disappoint Mr. Northman."
"Nope! No, no, of course not!"
"Good to hear." She smiles again, toothily. "Ta-ta for now."
And she disappears into the night at vampire speed, leaving Mr. Alfonse speechless and his dog cowering with its paws over its snout.
----
Oh, Bon Temps, how Pam abhors you. The rural backwater town had become even less appealing ever since Sookie Stackhouse came into the picture. Fortunately it's on the tail end of her errands, and as she knocks on the old house's door, it's with a forced sense of cheer.
Sookie peers through the window at her.
"May I?" Pam asks. Nicely.
The girl opens the door and invites her in quite easily.
The house, however... Well. The walls and ceilings are still crawling with withering branches and vines left over from when those otherworldly nature freaks took over.
"Now, why'd you have to go and kill that Maenad?" Pam says, casting her gaze around the room. "She's a terrific decorator."
Sookie has just one thing on her mind, though. "Any news about Bill?" she asks eagerly.
"No, just making my nightly rounds," Pam replies. "And Eric wanted me to give you this." She presents her with the check.
Sookie takes it and stares at it. "This is too much. It's only supposed to be ten."
Pam smiles. "We know. Eric wanted to give you a bonus for going above and beyond."
The girl doesn't look as if she knows exactly how to respond. After trying on a couple of different expressions, she finally says, "Well, tell him thanks. I guess."
It's all Pam can do to keep from snorting and rolling her eyes. "I'll say you sounded more appreciative than that."
Suddenly she gets that familiar shiver again, the echo coursing throughout her body, and it visibly moves her, so much so that Sookie notices.
"What was that?"
"It was Eric, calling me," Pam explains. "I should probably check in."
"He can call you?"
Pam doesn't stick around to enlighten her with further explanations. She's off in a blur out the door.
***
[NOTE: Dialogue and narration in scene with Eric written with
onceaviking. Dialogue in scene with Sookie taken directly from True Blood episode 3x01.]