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Apology
Nov 3, 2008 17:28:54 GMT -5
Post by Jules on Nov 3, 2008 17:28:54 GMT -5
It had been three days, two nights sleeping in the tollbooth. It wasn't so much the discomfort of the bed that bothered her, or the cold, but the lack of him. She hadn't caught so much as a hint of the mummy since their fight.
Mary knew she'd have to be the one to broach the subject of apology if she wanted things to change. Vince was just kind of maybe in the right here. But she still couldn't get rid of the way he'd looked at her. She'd been on the receiving end of many harsh, cold looks from him and they had never phased her before.
But that one, stupid look like she was the ground he walked on had bothered her more than anything and kept her away for three long days and two longer nights. She approached the main tent with such trepidation that it took fifteen minutes to complete a two minute walk.
When she reached the flap, she knocked on a supporting beam. It was his tent, never hers, he was just (or had been) sharing and so when they got into a fight it made sense that she would be the one to leave. But it still felt a little weird. She also didn't know if he would even bother coming to the door. If he even cared to hear her out. It was a struggle for him to love her, and maybe he couldn't be pushed to violence, but she hadn't considered him being pushed into no longer loving her.
"Vince?" So low and small she doubted anyone even an inch from her would've heard.
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Apology
Nov 3, 2008 17:54:13 GMT -5
Post by Miss Jack on Nov 3, 2008 17:54:13 GMT -5
He sort of thought he'd imagined it. He'd replayed so many scenes, all of which started with a similar sound, her knocking outside tent.
If it was his imagination, it would go like this: “Vince, are you still angry with me?”
He looks away. He can’t think when she’s watching him like that. “ . . . Not anymore.”
She seems to accept this answer, though her gaze does not move from his face.
"I didn't miss you," he would say, because it is a point that clearly needs to be made. "And I don't care what you do. You can act like a child for all I care, but you don't have to leave every--"
"Don't lie," she says. "Don't ever lie to me again."
Vince cursed viciously in every language that he knew. He cursed because his dream-Mary was right: lies were for the weak. He knew exactly what he felt. And then he heard his name called, so soft he almost missed it.
He was at the door (so to speak) in an instant, pushing the flap aside. He saw her and waited, not trusting himself to speak first.
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Apology
Nov 3, 2008 18:22:27 GMT -5
Post by Jules on Nov 3, 2008 18:22:27 GMT -5
Her gaze dropped to their feet the moment he came to the door. She was surprised he came so suddenly. Hopefully, it was a good sign. She stood there, staring at the ground for probably too long, long enough that she was a little surprised he hadn't said anything by the time she finally looked up.
"I'm sorry." She said and then blushed. He probably didn't care to hear it, but at least it was off her chest.
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Apology
Nov 4, 2008 20:01:22 GMT -5
Post by Miss Jack on Nov 4, 2008 20:01:22 GMT -5
"I know," he said, he'd known it first looking at her when he opened the door.
Words failed him. It wasn't enough to give a gruff reply and allow her entrance again. This time, some sort of expression was needed, but here was where a lifetime of self-discipline and carefully honed skills fell short, useless, on the floor.
He grabbed her arm and pulled her to his chest, a sigh of release escaping as she fit into place.
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Apology
Nov 4, 2008 20:08:36 GMT -5
Post by Jules on Nov 4, 2008 20:08:36 GMT -5
Mary smiled and rested her head on his shoulder. But when she spoke, there was an undercurrent of threat. Vince could be terrifying, but she could be her own brand of scary. "Don't ever look at me like that again. I don't care what I do. Don't."
Demanding something of Vince was never a wise choice, but what else was she going to do, 'Pretty please with sugar on top'? No, if she wanted her way she had to be stubborn about it. Besides, it was perfectly reasonable to not enjoy being looked at like filth. She just couldn't be sure if he would see it that way.
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Apology
Nov 4, 2008 20:14:35 GMT -5
Post by Miss Jack on Nov 4, 2008 20:14:35 GMT -5
He pulled back to study her; a mixture of consideration, surprise and a bit of his usual hard pride in his eyes. This was a new situation for him. She wasn't beneath him-- he held no rank over her like this, nor was she above him. Rather they were equals hoping to, by some measure, please each other.
"Okay," he agreed at last. "I won't."
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Apology
Nov 4, 2008 20:23:45 GMT -5
Post by Jules on Nov 4, 2008 20:23:45 GMT -5
"Good, look at me like that again and I'll leave." No empty threat, either. She had gone through years and years of being made to feel like a rat, she wouldn't go through it with the person she was in love with.
"And Vince, about that list. I don't care how many people you've killed, and I don't care about details, because I know you're a good man." She didn't even add the 'deep, deep, deep down' she usually did.
Sure, he usually brushed off any attempt anyone made to make him out as better than a devil, but whatever. He could think of himself however he wished, if it made him more comfortable to think he was a demon fine. But it didn't mean she had to believe it.
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Post by Miss Jack on Nov 5, 2008 1:13:17 GMT -5
He thought her reaction a bit strong; he could barely recall the specific look he'd given her. Knowing him, it was doubtlessly nasty, but she'd braved darker tempers than that before. Leave? He would have to watch his glares; not an easy task, since a glare was his default conversation expression.
At her next proclamation, he could only regard her with doubt. How did she know? She, the sole owner of his love. She knew the best side of him, and that was bad enough as it was. He wasn't good, he would hold no delusions that he was. As long as he was good enough, for her.
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Post by Jules on Nov 5, 2008 1:32:58 GMT -5
Mary smiled softly, sometimes she wished he spoke a bit more. It was impossible to tell what he was thinking at any given moment. Her fingers came up and traced the contours of his face delicately, like she was trying to relearn it. "I missed you."
Her fingers wound in his hair and she pulled herself upwards to kiss him. It felt good to be near him again, to see him even. Before the whole love business weeks had gone by without her speaking to Vince, without really even seeing him. So, so much had changed.
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Post by Miss Jack on Nov 5, 2008 1:57:30 GMT -5
Admitting to the same problem certainly felt like a weakness, but she admitted to sharing the same weakness, and there was nothing but the two of them, fighting against this ailment, together.
"I missed you too," he whispered and complied to her kiss.
It was a scary business, this dependency on someone else.
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Post by Jules on Nov 5, 2008 2:09:02 GMT -5
She pulled away after a moment, breathing already a little affected. "All of what I said, I didn't mean any of it. I really am sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you." It felt weird, assuming Vince had been hurt by what she'd done. But she could only imagine that's the reason he'd reacted at all.
But Mary found after three days, she didn't want to spend too much time talking about things, and brought her lips to his yet again, this time a lot more hungry.
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Apology
Nov 6, 2008 20:18:10 GMT -5
Post by Miss Jack on Nov 6, 2008 20:18:10 GMT -5
Vince latched an arm around her back, dragging them both into the tent, to perhaps find a more suitable surface for their activities. At this rate, it would be entirely uneconomic to have bandages over his skin at all. He might have to consider making this "living specimen" thing more permanent.
He paused suddenly, thinking. What had just transpired? Was it the alleged first fight of a new couple, and then make-up sex after? It sort of annoyed him to think they had something in common with Jack and Pia, especially Johnny and Henriette (though probably not Simon and Illie; he doubted if they ever fought, and if it weren't for their children, he'd doubt that they'd had sex).
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Apology
Nov 6, 2008 21:13:18 GMT -5
Post by Jules on Nov 6, 2008 21:13:18 GMT -5
Mary had been thoroughly enjoying where it had been heading, but only Vince decided to stop abruptly to probably ponder some deep and meaningful on the way to bed. She pulled away from him, maybe a touch annoyed.
"Everything okay?" She asked. Maybe he had decided the remain mad at her. She wouldn't put it past him. Maybe some new revelation had hit him on the head. If he ran to his books right now she'd kill him.
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Apology
Nov 6, 2008 21:24:21 GMT -5
Post by Miss Jack on Nov 6, 2008 21:24:21 GMT -5
"Fine," he mumbled, focusing on her again. He lifted a shoulder. "We just had a... first fight."
Probably she was aware. Probably the words no duh were crossing her mind, and it definitely wasn't the literal first fight, since they'd been fighting for a century, but this was just such a.... couple-y thing.
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Apology
Nov 6, 2008 21:38:45 GMT -5
Post by Jules on Nov 6, 2008 21:38:45 GMT -5
She stared at him for a loooong moment before it dawned on her by what he meant by 'first-fight'. Because this certainly was not their first fight. But she supposed he was being weird because it was their first fight as a couple. And this was it, wasn't it? What she'd been afraid of all this time; that Vince would freak out, pull away and go back to the impenetrable fortress he'd been before.
"That's true." She spoke quietly and soothingly, like he was at risk of bolting at any second. "Couples do that, and it's not like we didn't fight before. If you really look at it, nothing has really changed, we just kiss and stuff now and still get all pissy at each other. It's not that big a deal, you know? You're fine, I'm sorry, it's over and I promise I won't do any of that again, I was just trying----well, nevermind, but you know there's no real reason to freak out, please don't freak out."
She was maybe a little nervous.
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