Thundar Stealerer

It's the morning. And with all the immediate work having been down, Ivan is left in his office, rather casually playing a game of Solitaire on the computer. He doesn't even think twice when his cell phone rings, reaching to pick it up without hesitation. "You've got Ivan. What's up?"

There is a lot of silence at the end of the phone. An almost electric silence. As soon as the voice is heard, Hope finally speaks. "Of all the nerve, Ivan Fontane! I can't believe you'd do this. To try and usurp my wedding and all the hard work I've been putting into it? You have absolutely no class!" Seems someone found out somehow.

The silence is met with confusion. "Hello?" Ivan repeats, and he's on the verge of hanging up when he hears her. And she isn't yelling. Oh no. Her dangerous tone is much more intimidating and scary. "I…uhh…what? Hope? That you?" He strains, brows arching in surprise.

At least over the phone she can't bury him alive in strawberries. Hope's tone is scary. She may not be a bridezilla, but she's put a lot of thought and time into her wedding plans, and now? It's like they're for nothing. "No, it's Sarah Newlin," she snaps into the phone. "Of course it's Hope. Who else do you know that's planning a big wedding, that you have no shame in wrecking just because you hate her fiance?"

"Wrecking? I - what're you talking about Hope? I haven't done anything to wreck your wedding. I wouldn't do anything, even. Why, what's happened?" He's at a loss, confused as to what the nature of her sudden anger is stemming from. There's no way she could know about the engagement. He hasn't even managed to find Faith a proper ring yet.

"Oh. My. God. You are the densest man on the entire planet!" Hope is trying very hard to keep up the dangerous tone, but she's falling prey to her anger. "You. You went and asked my sister to marry you. You idiot. Everything is ruined now."

"…Eh?" Ivan blinks. Not once, but twice. "How do you…Wait a second," the surprise and confusion is pushed aside in favor of a more authoritative and suspicious tone. "How does me asking your sister to marry me have any bearing, at all, to your marriage? Unless you were going to try and hook her up with someone else at your wedding. I don't see how anything's ruined."

"How do I know? Because my fiance doesn't lie to me, that's how." Hope takes a deep breath before responding. "There's etiquette, Ivan! Just like it's bad form to get engaged at someone else's wedding or engagement party, it's bad form to get engaged to the bride's sister before her wedding! You're trying to steal my thunder!"

"Bad eti-what? That's crazy. The wedding isn't even until a couple of months. So you're saying I'm supposed to put my life on hold until after the marriage? Or - no - after the honeymoon, so I don't 'steal your thunder' then either." Ivan frowns. Thoughtfully and excessively. "I was afraid you'd take it this way. I'm not trying to steal your thunder. I'm just trying to be happy, and to make Faith happy. Your wedding is still going to be incredible, Hope. It's going to be everything you could have ever wanted. And I wouldn't have it any other way."

"It's not crazy. You're going to run out and get married before my wedding, then all the planning? All the hard work? It's for nothing." Hope, through all her scariness and anger, actually sounds like she's going to cry. She's definitely got super high emotions lately. "No, there's no point in it now. You ruined everything. After everything I gave up… after everything I've been through, I deserved to have just one… one nice thing in my life, and you've spoiled it."

"Okay, hold on there. Who said anything about us getting married before your wedding? We haven't even begun to think about setting a date. And frankly? I don't want to get married before you. How can you say that, though? That it'd be for nothing? You're going to marry a man you supposedly love. Even if I were trying to steal your thunder and pulled a dick move, your marriage wouldn't be nothing. It'd be…your marriage." Pause. "Hope…listen to me. Please. I'm not going to ruin your special day. I would never, ever do that."

"I know you, Fontane. You go out of your way to make other people miserable. Sure, I'm happy for my sister… I want her to be happy, but you spoiled the wedding." There is a big difference between 'the wedding' and 'the marriage'. The marriage can still happen and life will be wonderful, but 'the wedding', all the pomp and circumstance of it, the dresses, the tuxes, the flowers… it all means very little if her sister runs off and elopes. "For the record, it's not supposedly love either. Do you think I would take him back after your sister seduced him if I didn't love him with all of my heart?"

Jesus Christ, Hope! I do not go out of my way to make anyone's life miserable. What do I have to say or do to convince you that I'm not trying to fuck you over? That I'm not going to ruin your perfect wedding, you day?" There's a pause, as he thinks his own words over. "…I wont break off the engagement, so don't even think about asking that."

Snorting, Hope says, "I'm not you, Fontane. I would never hurt my sister like that." She pauses, only briefly to wipe at her cheek. "I don't know what you can do. It honestly feels like you only asked her to be spiteful."

"Why?" Ivan inquires, sounding a little incredulous over her disbelief. "Why does it have to be that I'm spiteful? Why can't it be that I love your sister with the bottom of my heart, and need her in my life forever? Why is that so hard to believe?" There's another pause. Heavy, and thoughtful. "Despite what you might believe about me, Hope…I'm not trying to be spiteful. I want you to be happy, just as happy as I want Faith. Wouldn't sabotaging you go against that? For the matter, wouldn't sabotaging you make Faith unhappy as well?"

"Why? Because it's who you are!" Hope isn't giving an inch here. She's hurt, and honestly? She's feeling a bit betrayed by her sister too. "You're not the type of person to love someone completely like that. You, Ivan Fontane, are the world's biggest jerk." Pause. "You threw a shoe at Bobby's head when I was missing, for crying out loud! Who in the world throws a shoe at someone!?" She sniffles rapidly twice, and exhales a slow breath. "Why would it make Faith unhappy? She has you. She has vampire-Tripp. She doesn't need me anymore, I was just wasting my time taking care of her."

Now? Now, Ivan is starting to get irritated. And quite angry himself. "You don't know a thing about me, Hope. Let's just get that straight once and for all." His voice? Deathly quiet. Dangerously so. "You never knew me before, and you don't know me now. So get off your fucking high horse. And I threw a shoe at a man who DUMPED you just so he could fuck another woman. And then, when he got bored? Suddenly decided that he'd give you a shot again. If I'm not capable of love, after all I've done for you and your sister? Then there's no way in hell your precious Bobby is. So don't fucking judge me. I like you, Hope, when you're not being crazy and irrational. But I'm not going to be your punching bag. I don't deserve that kind of abuse and you know it."

He breathes in deeply, then. Trying to calm himself. "Faith loves you. And Faith needs you. She always will. You're her best friend and her sister. And I know you don't actually think that taking care of her was a waste of time, and that it's just the upset speaking. And I'll repeat this once again - I'm NOT trying to screw you over."

Wrong tact to take with someone who's already upset and irate. "I don't want to know a thing about you. Any guy that would manipulate a girl who was in a facility for psychological issues to sleep with him under the guise of protection is a Grade A ass." So he's not got any right to spout off about high horses to her. "Let me clear something up for you. I wanted the break from Bobby, because things were moving too quickly for me. He did not dump me. I dumped him. So I'm not sure where you're getting your information from, you're wrong."Hope takes a deep breath, but she's not bothering to calm herself down. "Not just another woman, Fontane. Your sister. Who, despite her thinking that Bobby was engaged at the time? Went for him anyway. You cannot, and will not put all the blame on Bobby, because he's not the only one at fault here. Your whore of a sister is too. She is not innocent in this, and quit trying to make her out to be."

"And if Faith really, truly loved me like a best friend and sister? I would have heard about this from her, not through Bobby, who heard it from his sister."

"My 'whore' of a sister didn't have any obligations to you or to anyone. She was perfectly within her rights to do anything she could have wanted to do. It was BOBBY, who - if he loved you so much - should have sent her packing. Oh, and by the way? He pursued her first. This I do know, because when she came to me, confused, and talking about how he was trying to kiss her? I defended him. I told her she must've been reading the signals all wrong, and that he'd never do that to you. Because he was still with you then. And then, she even asked me to deliver a message to him for her, because she wanted to avoid him and avoid trouble. So, guess what? He initiated that shit." Beat. "Why're we fighting over this again? And you're delusional if you think I manipulated anyone or anything. You forgot - Faith had the opportunity to go and bunk with you. She didn't want to."

"Jesus, Christ! I asked her to marry me two days ago, not even! Did it ever occur to you that she WAS going to tell you, but didn't want to 'steal your thunder'? Did it ever occur to you to think that she was thinking of YOU?"

"One side of a story, Ivan, doesn't a full story make. Your sister sold Bobby that first ring. Did she tell you that? So she had no excuse for her actions. She knew." Which is why Hope promptly returned that ring to Bobby after finding that out. "You're the one who brought it up!" Even if he may not have been fully? He's the one that pursued that topic. "Why would she want to bunk with me when you were keeping her in a fancy condo, and manipulating her with sex?"

Hope takes a final deep breath, and says, "Whatever. Pretty sad that Chloe knew before her own sister. You know what, Fontane? Congratulations. I'm calling my parents to let them know that they can expect another wedding in the future." With that, it sounds like she's starting to hang up the phone.

"Oh my GOD, you're impossible! I…you…gah!" Frustration overcomes Ivan, and all he can do is glare sullenly at the cell phone, trying to overcome the urge to throw it against a wall. "Manipulating her with sex! Jesus, I didn't know I was so good in bed that I could control peoples minds and…" Oh, look. She's trying to hang up. Recognizing the fact that he shouldn't let the conversation end like this, no matter how frustrating the woman could be, he urgently pleads for her to stop. "No! Wait! Hope!…" Beat. "What…do you want as a housewarming present?" Maybe that's a safe enough topic to pursue.

"I don't want anything from you," Hope says, her emotions at a breaking point. Ivan thinks she's impossible? Wait until he has to deal with Babs. "But I will tell you this. My parents are devoutly Christian, and you and Faith have been living in sin. Mama is not going to like you in the least, no matter your high profile job. Especially if she finds out that Faith was with you when she kept going missing."

"What's something nice? Do you have a blender or something? Perhaps a nice set of knives that you can throw at me? I don't know much about home-making to be honest." Ivan purposefully ignores the claims that she doesn't want anything from him, trying to maintain on the pleasant path. However, when she mentions her mother, he smiles bitterly. "I wouldn't expect anything less from a Tyler woman, really. It seems I have a tendency to draw strong emotions from you lot. Your sister loves me. You hate me. I guess it's fitting for your mother to follow in your footsteps." Beat. "Hope?"

"What part of 'I don't want anything from you' didn't you understand?" Hope is not being stubborn. She really just doesn't want to own anything that came from Ivan. "I told you before about my sister, Ivan. You'll see next time she walks out on you just how much she loves you." It's not even said meanly. Just matter-of-factly. "Babs has very strong opinions. I really think the only guy in our lives that she ever liked was Tripp, and we both know that you're not even remotely close to being him." Because Tripp? He's dead. Hope refuses to acknowledge his existence as a vampire from this point forward. She also doesn't bother responding to her name, being stubbornly obstinate in that.

"Well, I want to give something to you. If you don't want it, you can return it. Or give it to the homeless or something. Not that the homeless would really need a six-speed mixer…" Ahem. On the contrary, however. Hope is trying to be mean. And not only with her 'sure' fact, but with her comparison of him to Tripp. For a moment, he sits there silently. As though she's stolen his voice. But eventually, he finds it once again. "…Y-you're right." He's shaky. "I'm not Tripp. I'm not like him. But that's a good thing." He's trying to convince himself of it.

"Is it? Because I've had two whole years to think on it now, and I think that Faith really only told him she didn't like him because she knew I did." Hope shrugs at that, sighing a little. Really, there's no poison in her tone. There's nothing. She's happy now, and Tripp is dead. That part of her life? It's over. "You know what you can give me, Ivan? If you're adamant about giving us something at all? You can come to my wedding dressed as a strawberry."

"…You're wrong. Or maybe your not. Maybe you're right. But that's not what she wants now. She loves me now, not him." Ivan doesn't want to talk about this any longer. He doesn't want to consider this any longer, quite aware of his insecurities. However, her request? Baffles him. "You wa-…are you serious?"

"If I were you, Ivan… I'd make danged sure about that before you get married. You don't want your marriage to be you, Faith, and Tripp after dark." Hope isn't saying whether she's concerned for him, her sister, or herself. "I am. Deadly serious. It's either that, or you let me plan your wedding for September."

"I don't know, isn't September a little early?" Ivan's voice is a little higher than normal, and it's obvious he's ignoring the first bit of 'advice' on purpose."I can't give the planning of the wedding away entirely. It's not just mine, it's Faith's too. But…I'd love it if you could help. Seriously. That'd be great." A shuffling noise follows…the shuffling of Ivan running his hand through his hair liberally, before he sighs. "Listen…are you sure you'd want a kook dressed up as a strawberry at your wedding? Don't you think it'd be a little weird?" Beat. "I mean…I'll…do it. If you want me to."

"Early? If you set it for the end, it's still nearly four months away, and with all my contacts? I can have it planned in under a month." Hope gave him the choices. She wants her sister to have a nice wedding, but she doesn't think Faith'll be up for the task. "Besides, October is too late. The winter just isn't right. Do you really want to wait until next summer?" Hope is, apparently, fine with the wedding. Provided that it happens after hers. "I told you. The strawberry costume or planning the wedding. That's the deal."

Ivan frowns thoughtfully. "I mean…the wedding planning thing is the obvious choice, but I don't know. I don't want to promise you something that Faith might want to do. Can I get back to you or something? Or…well. What's involved in planning the wedding, anyway? And why would you want to plan my wedding?" Beat. "To humiliate me, probably? But…I don't know. Maybe you're right about September…"

"Strawberry, or wedding planning. You'll have to convince her is all." Hope is grinning at the other end of the line now, as evidenced by her voice. "There's a lot involved with planning a wedding. The type of venue for the ceremony, the venue for the reception, DJ versus orchestra, minister or justice of the peace, indoors or outdoors, cake, catering, dresses, tuxes, open bar versus not…" Snorting she adds, "I don't want to plan your wedding, you ass. I want to plan my sister's wedding. She deserves the best, she doesn't have the fortitude to get it all done quickly, and I don't trust you to not run off to Hawaii and make me miss it."

Funny, how far things have gone. From bitter vitriolic anger, to…well, Hope grinning evilly. "Well…will she have a say in it all? 'Cause…honestly? I don't care what goes down. I don't. So long as my parents are there and we get hitched. But it's different for girls, right?" Beat. "I just…don't want her to be forced to do something she doesn't want to. I don't want her to be disappointed. I want it to be everything she does." When she starts listing all the details, however, Ivan blinks. And personally, he wonders if they have just lucked out but having Hope want to plan it all for them. "…Hey. S'wrong with Hawaii? That wouldn't happen, anyway…Faith wouldn't get married without you there. I know her." Their parents, however, is a different story.

Grinning evilly? More just grinning. Hope laughs, "Well she can have as much say as she wants, but I'm good at these things. I know what'll work and what won't." Oh yes, there's a lot of work for a wedding. More even than what Hope listed. So much more. That was just the easy stuff. There's also flowers, and decorations, tulle or no tulle, hair up or hair down, etc. "What's wrong with Hawaii is that you'd be running away to get married, and Hawaii's more of a honeymoon location than a wedding location. You get married at home, then run away for a week of relaxation and fun!"

"I…uhh…okay." This sounds like too good a deal. Much too good a deal. "Err. Nothing's set in stone, 'cause I got to check with the missus. But…alright. I think that'll work. You…ah…you like doing stuff like that, right? Planning and stuff?" What a …surprisingly pleasant end. "Well, yeah, I guess that's true enough. But maybe running away from the paparazzi and all wouldn't be such a bad idea."

"Good. Check with her. If it's a no? You're wearing the strawberry costume." Period. Hope will have one ordered before the weekend is out, she's that efficient. "It's not that I like doing it. It's that I'm good at organizing things. Hello? Poster girl of the Fellowship of the Sun for a reason." Also, she's going to make a great elementary school teacher for a reason. "The problem with running from the paparazzi is that you never will. They're always going to be there, and it'll be a bigger deal if you run away to get married. Like you're trying to hide it for some reason. If you make it public, no one's going to care." Idiot.

"Fine. If it's a no go, then I'll wear the damn suit." The things Ivan does. The things he ends up having to endure for the Tylers are ridiculous, to say the least. "And…you'll get no protests from me when it comes to that." To her superior organization skills. "Well…I beg to differ. S'not like we're anything but local news. There wouldn't be paparazzi following us in Hawaii because we're not real celebrities or anything. But…too expensive to fly everyone out there." There's a pause, during which he tests is luck. "So…we good now? Yeah?"

"There would be some. Trust me." They're not real celebrities, but then again neither is Hope and she's generally got a reporter or two harassing her for insider stories on the Fellowship, as if they're some sort of evil cult. "Hawaii isn't that far. Besides, all they'd need is one and the headline would read 'Fontane runs away with the Queen of Crazy. Sources say she's having twins!' You know how those things go."

Hope does not say whether they're good now or not. Not until she gets confirmation on wedding planning or strawberry costume.

Ivan sighs. Slowly and dejectedly. What follows is a tired's man honest thoughts. "You know, sometimes I wonder why I even bother." He murmurs, referencing her telltale silence when he asked whether they were alright or not. "You're never going to approve anyway. Oh well. I ought to get back to work then. Have a nice day, Hope. I guess I'll be talking to you sometime soon."

Poor, dejected Ivan. That's what he gets for not telling her straight up and waiting for her to hear it from someone else! "If my sister is happy, then I'm happy for her. But I swear on His holy light that if you ever hurt her? You will see me actually angry." Not just emotionally hotheaded and upset. "Please let me know by next week. I can set up potential dates when I call Wednesday to confirm my stuff." Then she just hangs up the phone. Not even a goodbye. What? She's a busy bride to be, and she's already late for getting to Hana's shop.

Unless otherwise stated, the content of this page is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License