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Post by Cavalier on Oct 31, 2011 22:52:49 GMT -5
His eyes flicked over to look at him. "I'll remember that next time." He glanced up at the clock. "We get a break in 10 minutes. Wanna sneak over at see the girls?"
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Goblin
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Never make a promise or plan, take a little love where you can.
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Post by Goblin on Oct 31, 2011 23:10:25 GMT -5
"Yeah, sure," Goblin agreed, unable to find any sinister motive in that. Other than the fact that Riddle and Gypsy were among the girls. But he couldn't worry about that; he had to see Maggie again, to at least make sure she'd finally stopped crying.
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Post by Cavalier on Oct 31, 2011 23:14:28 GMT -5
Cav nodded, then went back to work silently, until one of the guards excused their row, barking at them that they had twenty minutes to be back, or they'd pay the consequences. Most of the guys took it as a chance to go out to the yard, but Cav led the way back to the now empty bunkroom.
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Goblin
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Never make a promise or plan, take a little love where you can.
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Post by Goblin on Oct 31, 2011 23:25:06 GMT -5
"Ever wonder what'd happen if they fixed this vent?" Goblin mused, climbing onto the right bunk and getting it open. In a way, they were lucky that maintenance in the Refuge was nonexistent. He pulled himself up and crawled through the ceiling, opening the opposite vent and dropping down in the girls' room.
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Post by Cavalier on Oct 31, 2011 23:27:14 GMT -5
Cav snorted, the idea of them fixing anything an absolute joke. He followed, dropping down into the room. Most of the girls were already gone, but the Trio and Script were over in the corner.
Where Script was still crying. Of course. What the girls didn't know was that it only had a little bit to do with Riddle threatening her the night before.
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Goblin
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Never make a promise or plan, take a little love where you can.
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Post by Goblin on Oct 31, 2011 23:38:41 GMT -5
Goblin sighed when he saw her and went straight to her. "Hey," he said, sitting down and putting a hand on her shoulder. "What's wrong, Mag? This is Cav," he added, indicating his new...friend?...and hoping the introduction might distract her from her tears.
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Post by Cavalier on Oct 31, 2011 23:42:18 GMT -5
Maggie sniffled, only glancing at Cav, before staring down at her lap. "What are you doing here, Sebastian?"
--
Cav hung around awkwardly. He gave Script a vague wave, then looked over at Footsteps.
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Goblin
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Never make a promise or plan, take a little love where you can.
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Post by Goblin on Oct 31, 2011 23:46:36 GMT -5
"Just...checking on you," he said, shifting uncomfortably. She didn't seem to want him here, and he really couldn't blame her. Part of him had always known their relationship would probably fall apart over the course of this plan. And yet he'd never anticipated how much it would mean to him.
--
Footsteps gave up on trying to break up a half-serious argument between Yankee and Bitter about the rules of some obscure card game. Bitter seemed to be winning, if only because she kept lapsing into Spanish and leaving Yankee baffled. "Cav! Hey. How's life treating you?" she asked, giving Script's hand a final squeeze before walking tactfully toward a bunk across the room. Her two friends took the cue and also moved away from Goblin and Script, giving them some space.
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Post by Cavalier on Oct 31, 2011 23:52:37 GMT -5
Script bit her lip. She took his hand because she wanted to touch him, but she held it lightly. She didn't know how to act with him. His reaction to her and the way they left each other last night...it left her feeling insecure about herself, and their relationship. "I'm...I'm okay..." She lifted her eyes, looking at him sadly.
--
Cav followed after Footsteps, glancing over at Script and Goblin. Without thinking he said, "He's not over Riddle."
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Goblin
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Never make a promise or plan, take a little love where you can.
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Post by Goblin on Nov 1, 2011 0:02:27 GMT -5
He took one look at her teary face and was suddenly stuttering out something that he absolutely should not be mentioning--not now, not ever, but especially not now. "I...I should...there's something I should tell you..."
--
Footsteps followed his gaze in surprise; Cav usually wasn't much for gossip. "Well...that's understandable," she said. "What they had was so intense. But he really cares about Script, you can tell. I think they're good for each other," she said with a smile.
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Post by Cavalier on Nov 1, 2011 0:05:51 GMT -5
She took a breath, swallowing, leaning into him. "Tell me, Sebastian...please..." She needed him to tell her, no matter what it was. She was so tired of feeling like she was being shut out of what was really important in his life, good, bad or indifferent.
--
Cav watched her. He allowed himself to feel a little better that she was at least not stuck on Goblin. "I told him what was happening to the girls." He didn't even know if she knew.
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Goblin
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Never make a promise or plan, take a little love where you can.
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Post by Goblin on Nov 1, 2011 0:25:35 GMT -5
"The ones who disappear?" Footsteps looked at him solemnly. "Is it...are they...?" She'd come to suspect that the girls ended up in brothels. They were always pretty, had no family or friends; it seemed to fit. But how could he know?
--
Goblin was suddenly casting about for everything he hadn't told her--everything that wasn't the one thing that was filling him with guilt. "So...Clara and I grew up kinda wealthy on the Upper West Side, and Tara was our neighbor, and she and Clara were really close, and she and I had this weird love/hate relationship, but you already know about that.
"And our mother was...I don't know...odd. She'd shower us with attention one day and ignore us the next day. I guess she wasn't really right in the head, but I got pretty good at reading her moods, knowing how she'd act on any given day, and that's when I got used to reading people, figuring out what they were like and what they wanted.
"So that was our mother...and our dad just kind of hated me. Only me, he liked Clara fine, but he was always yelling at me...I guess I was too quiet and thoughtful or something...anyway, we didn't get along, and our mother had all her tempers and moods, and they fought all the time, and he left when I was twelve. Then this other guy moved in--our mother's boyfriend. The whole upper class pretended he didn't exist, but he did. And he'd beat us up. A lot. So I decided we should run away. Which was the stupidest plan I ever made in my whole life.
"We lasted three years on the street, and I was always making deals with people. That was the only thing I knew how to do. Clara couldn't do anything, I didn't let her learn to survive on her own--I thought I should just keep her safe. Then I got caught stealing and thrown in the Refuge for a year, and terrible things happened to my sister, and it was my fault, and I got out, and I couldn't even talk to her about Riddle or any of that, because she'd been through so much and she was so different and..."
He took an extremely deep breath, wondering if he'd cracked under all the pressure and gone insane. "And then we moved to the lodging house and I met you. And that's...all there is to tell."
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Post by Cavalier on Nov 1, 2011 0:31:00 GMT -5
Cav nodded, face more solemn than he realized. "There's a guy, not much older than us that comes around. He meets up with Gypsy. Riddle, too, but I think Gypsy does more of the work."
--
She stared at him. Just stared at him for several quiet seconds. There was more, she could tell. She still didn't know the whole Riddle story, and there was still that look in his eyes that worried her. But he'd tried to tell her something, at least. And so she'd take what she could get, because she loved him, and she ached for him.
"Oh, Sebastian..." She slid her arms around his middle, face buried in the crook of his neck.
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Goblin
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Never make a promise or plan, take a little love where you can.
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Post by Goblin on Nov 1, 2011 0:40:49 GMT -5
The pain on Footsteps' face was obvious. She'd known the girls who vanished, every one of them. There weren't many people she didn't know--and care about. "We have to do something about it." She wasn't stupid; she knew how hard it was to go up against people like this, people with gangs and vast conspiracies. But that was why she had so much respect for Goblin...he actually tried, and he thought everything through so thoroughly that she usually found herself believing he could succeed.
--
Goblin wrapped his arms around her in return, holding her and actually fighting back tears, because it was like a fucking dam just broke inside him--he always did absolutely everything he could to avoid talking about himself and any part of his life, and he'd just given her so much at once. Not everything, but so damn much. But he managed to pull himself together, largely because Script was still here, in his arms. She hadn't gone running. Yet.
((Fun fact: His whole childhood before they ran away is based on the song "Pity the Child" from the musical "Chess." ^_^))
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Post by Cavalier on Nov 1, 2011 0:44:14 GMT -5
Cav swallowed, feeling more than he'd care to admit as he watched her face. "Goblin's got a plan. I'll help, I guess. If you need me to or whatever." His fingers touched her sleeve, just a little.
--
She held him, nuzzling the crook of his neck, murmuring to him. "I love you so much, Sebastian...I love you so much, it hurts..." And it did. Her insides ached for his lost childhood, for the fact that he still wasn't whole, no matter how hard she hard tried to fix him. She hoped so hard that maybe, once this whole thing was dealt with and done, he'd be different, he'd be okay. That they'd be okay, together.
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