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Post by Jules on Oct 31, 2008 1:14:11 GMT -5
Once again, he was busy with something that wasn't her. Which was completely fine, pffft, whatever, she'd go explore. Mary hadn't actually had the chance to do this yet, so she was excited. And she was pretty sure Vince would come find her if she got lost. It might take him three days to notice she was gone, but eventually he'd figure it out, he was a sharp one.
It didn't take long. One too many dead ends and back-tracks and she was very lost, but not yet concerned. Mary knew she was pretty far in, walking down a narrow corridor which finally broke into a small room coated in papers.
It was impossible to tell if there was a desk of a kind under the heaps of papers, or if the piles were just very tall. She figured this must be were he left all his unfinished work. Paper after paper she picked up were nothing more than rambling, half-finished thoughts, and all of them were insights into the old Vince. Or at least, hopefully old Vince. She let the top avalanche into her lap as she sat down, and began reading.
She must have been there for hours, pawing through discarded papers. Most of it she couldn't understand.
One, near the bottom of the pile that had blanketed her lap snagged her interest. It was obvious he'd written it in some state of agitation, the lettering darker and heavier, the ink splattered a little.
She couldn't understand what it was beyond a list of twenty seven names. Why were these names important? Why had he written them done without the assured calmness of the others? Something about these twenty seven names, more men than women, seemed to hold her attention.
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Post by Miss Jack on Nov 1, 2008 15:51:27 GMT -5
It wouldn't be so annoying if it wasn't for this love business.
Love seeped into everything. It changed even the most mundane things, and twisted his once solid perceptions on life.
Like now for example. If he didn't love her, he might not care that he couldn't find her, but because he did, not only did he care, he was actually (gag) worried about her. He'd saved the main tent for last. He'd looked every else, he was fairly positive this is where she was, and knowing her... she was probably lost.
He walked through the maze of underbelly of the main tent (actually a fun house), checking the more deady traps first. "Mary?" he called. He tried to keep his voice threatening and annoyed, like it was in her best interest to make herself known immediately, but a touch of the concern crept through.
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Post by Jules on Nov 1, 2008 16:27:16 GMT -5
For some reason, she felt guilty when she heard him calling her name, like she'd been caught doing something she shouldn't. Perhaps it was a bit snoopy to have been reading all these papers, but if they were secret why would he have let her explore, and why would they be all out in the open? She stood, shedding several more papers as she did so and walked into the corridor, the list still in hand.
Mary smiled with an attempt at innocence when she saw him, "You rang?" He already sounded angry, which was never good, when you started off with him being annoyed. She was banking on the hint of softness she had maybe imagined.
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Post by Miss Jack on Nov 1, 2008 16:39:09 GMT -5
He paused in relief when she entered the corridor, before a glower darkened his features. "You need a tracking device," he muttered irritably. He noticed the paper clutched in her hand and raised an eyebrow. "What is that?"
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Post by Jules on Nov 1, 2008 16:59:53 GMT -5
She grinned at him, this was pretty much his way of saying he cared. The paper felt like contraband all of the sudden, but Mary just shrugged. "I was going to ask you that." Holding it up to show the names.
"Whassit a list of?"
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Post by Miss Jack on Nov 1, 2008 17:38:23 GMT -5
He took the list from her hands, eyes scanning disinterestedly over the contents before he tensed and his eyes flashed briefly ruby red. He handed it back to her.
"I don't know. Probably a list of contacts pre-Cold Shadow."
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Post by Jules on Nov 1, 2008 18:05:39 GMT -5
"Right, and I'm the Queen of England." His eyes only went demon-red like that when he was pissed. "What is it really? A list of all the people you hate?" She could imagine Vince doing a list like that, just to focus his hate all that much more. She was kind of surprised she wasn't on it, it was relatively old.
She approached, wrapped her arms around his neck and smiled, "Or is it of all the people you've screwed..........over?"
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Post by Miss Jack on Nov 2, 2008 14:12:59 GMT -5
He snorted. "I hate everyone," he told her. Obviously, the list would be a lot longer. He began to walk back to the main entrance of the tent, hoping she would take the hint and follow. He would have liked to leave entirely, drop this conversation, but if he did he would just have to find her again.
"And I have both screwed and screwed over, more than twenty seven people. I don' know what the list is, Mary. Drop it."
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Post by Jules on Nov 2, 2008 14:18:46 GMT -5
"Fine."
She glowered as he broke out of her hold and walked away. The idea of Vince having slept with more than twenty seven people boggled her a little. "Really? Huhn." Ah well, she doubted she had to worry about him cheating on her.
Following after him until she came to stand just a little bit behind him, she figured he must think she was really stupid. Well, okay, she knew he didn't have much respect for her intelligence, but she wasn't completely obtuse. "You do too know what this list is. Your eyes when all freaky when you saw it. Drop what? The list? But that'd be littering..."
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Post by Miss Jack on Nov 2, 2008 15:26:15 GMT -5
He stopped, tensing. He clenched his fists and counted to five, and then sent her a look of pure irritation over his shoulder. This, he knew, would hardly stop her. She had grown a sort of immunity to his death glares, much to his annoyance.
"Why do you even care? Do you know any of those people?"
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Post by Jules on Nov 2, 2008 15:35:07 GMT -5
Mary was beginning to get a little worried. If he was defending it so vehemently, what could it possibly be? She looked back at the list, studying the names and shrugged, "Maybe. I don't remember much from before." Come to think of it, she wasn't even sure if Vince knew her memory had had large holes blasted into it just before she came to the circus.
Not that it really mattered. "But they probably weren't that important if they don't even ring a bell. Why? What's it a list of?"
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Post by Miss Jack on Nov 2, 2008 16:02:17 GMT -5
He might as well tell her. Let her have no delusions about what kind of person she had fallen in love with. He stalked away, saying it almost as an afterthought. "It's the list of people I've killed."
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Post by Jules on Nov 2, 2008 16:14:10 GMT -5
She looked over the list in a new light. More men than women, but still. Twenty seven. And these were possibly only the names he remembered, the people he remembered. The people outside of a battle. For her, she'd only murdered once---she did not count the life she'd taken during the Wars. And that had torn her apart. Twenty seven people?
It certainly magnified how scary he was, and it worried her as well. Twenty seven people he had despised even more than normal, enough to end their lives instead of just coldly ignore their existence. And one person in that same amount of time that he had fallen in love with.
Those weren't good odds. She ran to catch up with him. "Have you ever been in love?" Knowing the answer, and still wishing it were another.
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Post by Miss Jack on Nov 2, 2008 16:19:19 GMT -5
What did she mean? Hadn't he told her enough recently? He studied her from the corner of his eye. "Before you?"
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Post by Jules on Nov 2, 2008 16:38:59 GMT -5
She nodded, "Or if not in love, at least cared for another woman?" She asked hopefully. Cold Shadow! They counted. And their wives and their children and his Godchildren. That was like, thirteen or so. But still, thirteen was a bit different than twenty seven.
And being in love was different than loving someone. She loved the family, Vince was the only one she kissed like she did. Passion, she supposed, was the difference. Maybe if he'd passionately loved someone like he'd passionately hated those twenty seven people besides her she'd feel a little better.
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