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 Posted: Sat Oct 17, 2015 11:41 am
Her immediate acquiescence to his demand for her to come over was gratifying. But, it would only remain gratifying so long as she showed up quickly. It was more than words or a 'sir' here and there. Harvard say on a makeshift chair: a thing cobbled out of a small bed frame and numerous cushions. His bed was, by far, more comfortable but for once, Harvard preferred to talk first. So he sat and he waited, tapping his phone idly against his thigh. Caroline Kercher had some things to tell him, didn't she?
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Posted: Sat Oct 17, 2015 12:03 pm
The fact that Caroline was barely managing to keep herself from succumbing to idle boredom had little to do with her prompt arrival, but it didn't hurt either. Though she knocked when she reached the door, she didn't wait before coming in.
It was only half a second later that she froze in the entrance.
This looked serious.
She rocked back on one heel, not quite committing to taking a step backwards just yet. There was not anything that she could recall doing between now and the time they last spoke, aside from speaking to Gretel, and that certainly couldn't be problematic. Realizing this brought a surge of terror that she had done something and forgot - how much time was she missing?
"Harvard," she slowly greeted him, her hesitant tone betraying that she wasn't at all positive that she didn't want to run yet.
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Posted: Sat Oct 17, 2015 8:10 pm
"Caroline," he said, rising and walking to her. Harvard had noticed that near-step back and he did not want her to take off in some game of tag. (Because he would find her; he would win, but it would take longer than he wanted.) " Good," he said, sliding his fingers around her wrist like a bracelet. Then he raised her hand and kissed her knuckles. Harvard turned, his fingers still loose round her wrist - she could break them, if she wanted; it was not a prisoner's manacle. "Sit down, Caroline."
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Posted: Sun Oct 18, 2015 12:41 pm
A hand around her arm wasn't a shackle attached to a wall attached to a dungeon, but Caroline responded like it might as well have been. Running ceased to be an option, and she resigned herself to staying and accepting whatever fate was in store for her. None of this was as serious as she made it, but she believed that it was. She sat when instructed to, eyes flickering with caution, always failing to look directly at him. "What--" As soon as the first word of it was out of her mouth, she stopped herself from voicing the rest of the question she wanted to ask. This game didn't seem to suit her speaking out of turn, so she waited with concerned patience.
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Posted: Sun Oct 18, 2015 12:49 pm
Harvard waited until she was seated, noticing every flighty, bird-like movement. Even though she sat obediently, it felt as though he was holding a small bird in his beat, the beat of her heart matching the beat of her fluttering winds. Then he sat and simply looked at her for a moment. "Do you have anything you think I should know, Caroline Kercher?"
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Posted: Sun Oct 18, 2015 1:20 pm
At the sound of that name, Caroline froze. No more restless fluttering of clipped wings, no more darting glances, but her pulse picked up in their absence. "Where did you..." She closed her eyes and tensed her jaw, forcefully trying to push thoughts out of her mind. That didn't matter, she told herself. Especially not now. She had done something wrong, and she'd known all along that it was. "There were a lot of lies," she began, slow and careful. A balancing act. "Thought I needed them, so I wouldn't be expendable. So I would be important enough. I needed the University, and I took someone else's spot. His life." Her eyes were fixed on his, and she was trying hard to remain stable. "I didn't--it's not my fault he's dead. I found him that way, the day it all started. And I thought...I was an engineer, I mean. It seemed like his spot could be my spot. Then it was. And maybe I would've been up there with Corey and Charlie anyway. Maybe not. But I guess--I know I'm glad I was. I don't know how to tell the difference between the things that happened from what I did right and the things that happened from what I did wrong, but I'm glad I was."
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Posted: Sun Oct 18, 2015 3:47 pm
Harvard sighed and stood up. Carefully, he eased back down on the back next to Caroline. He had originally intended to face her, to watch her reaction closely, but now... Now it seemed more important to be next to her, to be touching. "Of course it's not your fault he's dead, Caroline." He laid a warm hand on her thigh and squeezed reassuringly. More than remaining angry, he just wanted her to tell him everything. "From the beginning - I want to know everything. No more lies." It was not a request, but it was gentled by his hand stroking down her hair. Harvard knew she was more than just her lies, and if her lies were a cage she'd woven for herself, it didn't seem to be a happy one, although not bad. Everyone had a reason for the cages they built around themselves.
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Posted: Mon Oct 19, 2015 6:02 pm
There was a small smile at the assurance that he believed her. "When nines line up like that--I mean, I had to take it," she hastily interjected, seeming to think it would make this seem more sensible. The smile spread as he began to pet her hair, then grew into the foundation of a short laugh. "From the beginning? Which one? My first beginning was longer than anyone needs to bother remembering, and it started with some goddamn awful name in...Gaelic, I suppose, and--" No, this was serious, she reminded herself, and she settled down to regain her composure. It didn't take long for her to slip back into it. "Okay. Yes. No more lies." She leaned into his touch, pensive as she readjusted her thoughts, delicately altering a schematic of numbers and letters. "I'll tell you everything you want to know. But I need to know what you want to know. Too much at once and I'll get stuck on what's missing."
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Posted: Mon Oct 19, 2015 6:50 pm
"In Gaelic?" he repeated, amused that a name in Gaelic was where evertything began. As Caroline spoke, Harvard mused. How much did he want to know? The answer was quite simple. "I want everything, Caroline." His eyes where intent on her, unwavering. Then he smiled again, breaking that near-staring gaze. "But, in the interest of not sticking, tell me - why did you have to be Kendall?"
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Posted: Mon Oct 19, 2015 7:45 pm
" Everything?" Caroline purred, reaching to graze her fingertips across the hand on her hair, letting it rest with two of her fingers hooked loosely around his. When he provided an answer that was more specific, she didn't move her hand away, but didn't progress any further down that particular route. Just paused it for the moment. "Kendall the name, or Kendall the--" Everything. Right. "That's...a complex thing. But--well, the easy parts: I thought it was crucial to be recognized as part of the university before the Undying. It's more natural to accept one of your own. And I definitely wasn't part of it before. Not at all. Not even from Canada. So I had to be a wolf in pegasus clothing, right?" She grinned in an appropriately toothy manner for the joke she'd just made. "We had the same initials. Nines fit, like I said. Seemed easy enough to remember. Wasn't always, but it seemed like it." With a sharp sigh, she tacked on something that she wished could be just an afterthought. "Good to be safe, too. If anyone comes looking. Or--I mean. When."
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Posted: Mon Oct 19, 2015 8:12 pm
His hand shifted, intertwining their fingers a little more, despite the odd angle. This part of the story was easy - looking for a route into acceptance. Easy. He did not say anything until she'd paused, at the end. Harvard's eyes narrowed.
"If anyone comes looking for you? Who, Caroline?"
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Posted: Mon Oct 19, 2015 8:28 pm
The question confused her at first, and she blinked at him, clearly perplexed. Somehow, she thought he knew - but when she really thought about it, there was nothing to imply that he would have. She had no recollection of telling him anything about it. "That...that thing." She wet her lips and paused to just breathe. "The thing that took the place of my daughter. She died when she was born, and when they brought her back to me, it was there instead. Been there instead ever since. It walks and talks and grows, but it's not human. It's sure as hell not my daughter. Didn't want to let it live, but Victor kept it like a pet. But I was the one in the cage. Trapped. With it just watching me. Waiting, all hungry."
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Posted: Tue Oct 20, 2015 11:00 am
Well, Harvard didn't know if Mimsy was an it or not... And weren't all hunters not quite human? So, even if she had been human before, she wasn't quite now. (Harvard had been reading up, devouring books when he wasn't devouring people.) His eyes searched her face, saw the emotions that flicker through her eyes. And, just like that, he decided it didn't matter if Mimsy Morris was human or some kind of strange creature. What matters was how it affected Caroline. It was a past that shaped, but should not haunt her, yet he could see the echoes of it in her eyes. "But you escaped." He assumed Victor was her husband and rather immediately disliked him for.... various reasons. "Tell me how you escaped, Caroline. You must have been very clever." He moved his hand from her hair, freeing her own hand. Then, sliding his arm around her waist, tugged her closer.
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Posted: Tue Oct 20, 2015 5:46 pm
It didn't take long for her rising panic to dissipate again - not when the subject of escape was offered to her. The demeanor that Caroline took on showed exactly how clever she thought she'd been, which was immensely. This was a rare moment, in which her prideful confidence was as close as it could be to genuine, and not just an attribute of a part she was playing. "Oh, I am." She gave him a sly, close-lipped smile and let herself be pulled towards him. "Escaping was easy, once it was gone. Escaping is always easy, when you find the way out of the pattern. I found it a long time ago. Was just waiting. And when I was done waiting, he hardly noticed. Don't think he wanted to, but I didn't mind. There's an empty box back in Colorado, buried under a marker with my name on it. Some papers that say I'm dead." She tilted her head just slightly; it seemed that a lightbulb had gone off. "Do you think there's two sets of papers that say that now? That would be mysterious."
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Posted: Wed Oct 21, 2015 11:04 am
Well, Harvard thought, at least Victor wouldn't be looking for her. "Possibly," he said, his smile matching hers. Not everyone would have thought to escape like that and he was glad for any trail of nines and empty coffins that meant she was here. "But under a different name. Different names for different dead people. And you're quite mysterious enough without papers to prove it, Caroline." Harvard reached out and tipped her face towards his for a lingering kiss. He wondered if she'd ever visited her grave, left flowers for a past that followed behind her like trailing smoke. He wondered if she'd want to go. "Tell me all of your names, Caroline."
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