Welcome to Gaia! ::

The kiss made her forget all about the mystery in the many signed and stamped pages that said she was dead. It made her forget about most everything for the moment, and she was leaning in for more when he prompted her to give him her names.

"All? God." She gave a good-natured scoff and barely avoided rolling her eyes; the reaction was to her own names, not him, and she didn't want to give the wrong impression.

"Let's see...O'Leary, for a long time. Caireann Ríonach, if you want all of it." The pronunciation was correct, but not necessarily pleasant, mockingly mimicking the voice of the woman who first named her. "Picked Caroline for myself. Can't tell you most of the ones from here - don't remember them. Most only lasted a day."

Her gaze slowly wandered away.

"...a night..."

That was self-explanatory. She didn't elaborate.

"Never decided which of us would...uh, not important. Anyway, had less, after I got--after Kercher. Got rid of O'Leary for good. Kendall for a bit, as you know." She was counting them on her fingers, clearly beginning to lose track. "Guess most commonly--otherwise, that is--been Riona, Carol, Nine. People like Nine. Think it seems like a secret."

She raised a finger to her lips and narrowed her eyes for a playful 'shhh'.

Few other responses would have intrigued her as much as him kissing her fingers when he did. Caroline enjoyed the idea that it meant something, playing with the meaning of it until it changed shape a dozen or more times.

"Well. Doesn't need more than a couple words to plant a little seed. People start wondering on their own. Hardly takes anything." She shrugged, her grin nonchalant. "They get a bit of fun while I have mine. Doesn't hurt."

The grin faded as she thought better of what she'd said.

"Usually, I mean." Thinking of the place she'd put herself in with her most recent set of 'secrets', she shifted uncomfortably. "Really didn't mean to do that to you. Or the kids. Or..."

If her mind had been left to wander, she would have ended up somewhere she didn't want to be, somewhere far from here and very much alone. Exiled out of necessity for what she'd done. But her thoughts didn't make it very far; as he tightened his hold on her hand, it was as though she reached the end of her chain, and all she could do was come back. There wasn't any other option now.

"All the things I've said and that's what you don't like," she teased. "You sure you don't just dislike where it came from?" Not that it mattered; she didn't particularly care for it anyway, in either sense. She didn't wait for an answer.

"Haven't thought about it much, though. Not sure I've been here long enough to know how things work. When anyone's asked I've just been--just Caroline." Her brows raised inquisitively, before she even began to ask. "You at least like that one, don't you? What do you like?"

She tilted her head towards his touch, replying at first with only a distracted smile and a contented hum. As he continued, it became something that she was more compelled to put words to, though she didn't let the indications of her interest decline in the slightest.

"Of course you can. I dislike both." Only half of a shrug was managed as she lifted her hand to one of the buttons on his shirt, her thumb casually toying with it until it was almost undone. "Well, for me it goes beyond just dislike."

That wasn't anything Caroline wanted to discuss now; not when there were better things at hand. It was likely enough that the general sense of it could be inferred without her specifying anything anyway, she resolved.

"But yes. Satisfies me." She pulled lightly on the button, teasing him this time. "Don't remember saying a couple of those. They do seem familiar, though. They do sound nice. Maybe...I should think about trying something new, hmm?"