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Post by Sharkbait on Aug 25, 2008 21:07:35 GMT -5
"I'm sure there will be plenty of rescuing here if you stayed," Autumn said. "I mean, once Elena pops out that kid, she'll be back to her scheming self and I'll probably get pulled in with her. And I'm usually the one that gets in over my head. Granted, Logan usually saves me, but if makes a lot more sense for him to be looking out for Layali."
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Post by starcrossed on Aug 25, 2008 21:21:38 GMT -5
Daemon sighed, keeping his eyes resolutely shut now so that he wouldn't have to look at her as he said, "I can't stay. I never stay. You already know too much. Logan suspects too much." He rolled one shoulder in a half-shrug. "Besides, I'm used to the vagrant's life."
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Post by Sharkbait on Aug 25, 2008 21:30:57 GMT -5
"You can start a new life here," Autumn said, almost pleading with him. She looked at him, even though she knew he wouldn't see her. "That's what this place is for. To show you that you can fit in somewhere. You don't need to go around doing what you do because you're used to it. Please... stay. If you let people in, you could find yourself with the best friends in the world. You could eventually have a wife, a family. You don't need this life that you insist on having. Please..." By the end, she was whispering, not trusting her voice to be any stronger than that. She finally admitted to herself in the middle of that speech, around the word 'wife,' that she really did like him. Not just that normal pull that a girl gets when she sees a guy with the 'bad boy' image, either. She didn't just want to change him and let him go. She wanted to just be there for him. She wanted to be there when he decided to change. She hoped to be the one he changed for.
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Post by starcrossed on Aug 25, 2008 21:53:22 GMT -5
Daemon took a deep breath, held it for a moment, then let it out slowly. He heard that tone in her voice and couldn't ignore it any longer. He swallowed, hard, Adam's apple visibly bobbing and neck muscles standing out from his tenseness. "You don't want to get involved with me," he said in a low, warning voice. "It's not the most healthy vocation." He couldn't allow himself to think about what else she offered. That sort of life was far beyond his grasp.
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Post by Sharkbait on Aug 25, 2008 21:58:33 GMT -5
"I don't care how healthy it is," Autum said. "My last relationship was perfectly heathly and look where that got me. But this isn't about me... I want to make you happy and this job" - she nearly spat out the word - "is definitely working against me. I can tell that you wish for something more. Don't worry, I've kept my promises and haven't peeked. But emotions and thoughts are two different things. I can't turn off or block out emotions like I can thoughts." Her tone softened and she tentatively rested her hand on his forearm. "Maybe you need to thing about your own needs once in a while instead of making yourself believe that this job is your place in life."
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Post by starcrossed on Aug 25, 2008 22:24:59 GMT -5
Daemon flinched away from her touch, eyes snapping open at the same time as he stood in a single fluid motion. A couple feet of distance between them now, Daemon spun on the ball of one foot to face her as he said, "I killed my last girlfriend. I thought I loved her. But necessity arose, and so I killed her. I poisoned her wine, and I watched her die. Is that reason enough for you? Is it real now?" He shook his head. "I'm not some fixer-upper you can dust off and prop up to replace Chaosti. This is my life. This is all I know, all I've ever known since I was six. It's a dirty job, but someone's gotta do it - and I'm good at it."
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Post by Sharkbait on Aug 25, 2008 22:31:02 GMT -5
"I'm not replacing Chaosti!" Autumn nearly screamed. "Why does no one get that?! And you've got a past. I respect that, but I can also look past that." She looked away from him and focused on one of the roses next to her face, gently touching it. "I still believe there is some good in you. Whether you want to see or believe it, I do." She looked back at him. "I understand if I can't be anything more than a friend to you. I'll respect that. But I'm willing to try."
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Post by starcrossed on Aug 26, 2008 0:51:38 GMT -5
Daemon gave a short, hollow laugh and said, "You're insane. Have you heard nothing of what I've said?" He shook his head again, disbelievingly, and began pacing. "It's not that you're not attractive - beautiful. You are." He spat the words out, tone at odds with content. "But I can never trust. Never let my guard down. It was drilled into me as I grew up, and the one time I thought I could disregard that, the one time that I was convinced I was right and Lars was wrong.." He stopped dead in his tracks, gazing back up at the sky. The clouds were quickly darkening, swelling with rain. There was a quiet roll of thunder, a flicker of lightning within the clouds. Daemon's eyes were on this change of weather, but he seemed to be actually looking at some horror visible only to him. When he spoke again, his voice was flat, empty, devoid of any inflection, and his eyes were black, bottomless pits. "It was all a ruse. I was too good at my job. So I was her job. She was hired to kill me. I happened to wise up and get there first."
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Post by Sharkbait on Aug 26, 2008 8:42:00 GMT -5
Autumn listened to what he said, showing no visible reaction, even when he called her beautiful. She noticed the sky darkening as well, and how it was affected by his mood. "Things can change," she said, still looking up. She concentrated on the scene above her and willed it to go back to the bright blue sky and, this time, it had a rainbow. She smiled. "You just need a good enough reason."
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Post by starcrossed on Aug 26, 2008 11:01:14 GMT -5
Daemon sighed, slumping against the wall across from the vine swing and sliding down it to sit on the stone floor. "I don't know if I could," he said. "I wouldn't know what to do with myself. Take up scrapbooking?" He snorted derisively. "Normal isn't really a possibility for me."
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Post by Sharkbait on Aug 26, 2008 11:37:48 GMT -5
"None of us are what you'd call normal, Daemon," Autumn told him. She looked at him again. "We spend our time working on improving our magical powers. How is that normal? And you wouldn't need to take up scrapbooking. We do all sorts of things all the time. There wouldn't be enough time for you to think about what to do with yourself. If you give them a chance, I'm sure my friends would accept you. They usually trust my judgement, and they're starting to believe that I'm out of my Chaosti-induced wallowing.... But it's not one sided. You would need to leaernt to let people in. At least part-way. Baby steps for now." She smiled over at him.
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Post by starcrossed on Aug 26, 2008 18:08:56 GMT -5
Daemon simply looked at her for a long moment, then found himself shrugging. Why not? It couldn't hurt to stay just a little while longer. It wasn't like he had anything else lined up yet. He'd likely just go back to the place he shared with Lars - he wouldn't really call it living together - and drift around the house, reading dusty leather collector's editions of Jane Austen and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Maybe he could even discover something in the library here that would help with this damnable issue of getting stuck in dream. "I'm not promising anything. I'll stay until I get another contract. To keep up appearances." Or until she realized what a mistake this was, inviting a murderer to stick around and perhaps have a spot of tea.
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Post by Sharkbait on Aug 26, 2008 18:16:05 GMT -5
Autumn nodded. "Right," she said, "to keep up appearances." But she couldn't help the smile that grew on her face. She knew that he was doing this reluctantly. Not to mention that he probably thought she was completely insane for associating with him. But she didn't care. It might look selfish, but she saw it as something that would be helping him too.
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Post by starcrossed on Aug 26, 2008 20:34:53 GMT -5
Daemon absently blew an annoying strand of hair out of his eyes, gazing absently up at the sky. He suddenly felt awkward, and couldn't think of anything else to say. He hoped he wasn't leading her on by saying he would stay, if just for a little while. He honestly didn't think it likely that he would ever be able to trust again, especially so implicitly as to actually love someone. He just didn't have that luxury.
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Post by Sharkbait on Aug 26, 2008 20:44:28 GMT -5
Autumn went back to studying the roses by her face. She could tell he wasn't as comfortable as he was before, but she didn't want to point it out. She knew she had to slowly immerse him into life with her circle of friends and one of the things that was always around was respect for silence, even awkward silences. She wanted to say something, but she was used to these things, so she kept her mouth shut.
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Post by starcrossed on Aug 26, 2008 20:50:53 GMT -5
At a loss for anything else to say or do, Daemon experimentally tested the boundary between the Dreaming and the Waking. Nothing had changed. Still stuck. He sighed and said, voice quiet and lazy, "Now what?"
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Post by Sharkbait on Aug 26, 2008 20:57:40 GMT -5
Autumn shrugged. "Well, I'm not really sure," she said. "I've never really had to convince anyone to stay for any length of time, so I don't really know what happens from here."
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Post by starcrossed on Aug 26, 2008 21:00:05 GMT -5
Daemon gave a vague smile and said, "I didn't necessarily mean that. Could've meant just in the dream." He waved a hand to encompass the dream around them.
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Post by Sharkbait on Aug 26, 2008 21:01:57 GMT -5
"Oh," Autumn said as she gave a weak laugh, slightly embarrassed. "Well, I guess I need to wake up at some point."
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Post by starcrossed on Aug 26, 2008 21:12:42 GMT -5
Daemon sighed and said, "Yeah. You can go ahead and do that if you want. No need to hang around on account of me - I can always go mess around with other dreams."
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