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Post by Jordanna on Apr 11, 2008 22:10:06 GMT -5
"That's true." Vance gave Proteus a skeptical look. "But it might be better for me to go than Nate."
"Dad..." Nate began to protest.
Proteus smiled serenely. "And have you start throwing those bomb blasts of yours around at the first sign of trouble? Thanks, Major, but no thanks. The Lieutenant's talents will be more help to me."
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Post by skybright on Apr 11, 2008 22:16:18 GMT -5
Daws stifled a snicker. "I think he's got you there, Jerod."
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Post by Jordanna on Apr 11, 2008 22:23:54 GMT -5
Nate squared his shoulders and assumed a professional attitude, as if he suddenly felt the need to earn the respect Proteus was giving him.
"Well--Blizzard, I think we'd better start getting ready. Let's suit up and check our gear."
Blizzard nodded, and the two moved off toward the unoccupied remains of the farmhouse kitchen. Proteus followed with polite interest.
Vance gazed after them ruefully.
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Post by skybright on Apr 11, 2008 22:30:36 GMT -5
Daws glanced sideways at him and reached out to clasp his shoulder gently. "They'll be fine." She said quietly. "This is the easy part."
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Post by Jordanna on Apr 11, 2008 22:40:26 GMT -5
"Yeah," Vance murmured, without much conviction. "Except that easy is relative."
Over the next short while, Nate and Blizzard dressed in black fatigues and took an inventory of their weapons and tools. The rest of the fighters lapsed into thoughtful quietude, sitting around the living room, only a few of them conversing in hushed tones now and then.
Miriam slipped out onto the porch alone, and no one noticed her absence until Vance looked up from the charts of the mine shafts. He touched Daws' arm. "Where'd the Doc get off to?"
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Post by skybright on Apr 11, 2008 22:50:03 GMT -5
Daws glanced around with a puzzled frown, shrugging. "I dunno. She must be around -- I'll go see."
The detective retrieved her fedora and settled it on her head. After a brief search through the ruined rooms opening off the living room, she poked her head out through the front door.
"Doc?" She slipped out onto the porch. "Miriam? You okay?"
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Post by Jordanna on Apr 11, 2008 22:57:48 GMT -5
Miriam turned her head to give Daws a sad, weary smile. "Yes. I was just... thinking."
She tested the precarious porch railing, then gingerly leaned her elbows on it, gazing up toward the dark night sky. "Thinking of Alex. He... didn't take it well, being left behind."
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Post by skybright on Apr 11, 2008 23:03:11 GMT -5
"Ah." Daws moved across the porch -- gingerly avoiding the rotten boards -- and settled herself on the top step. "I guess that's not really surprising."
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Post by Jordanna on Apr 11, 2008 23:15:12 GMT -5
"I'm so..." Miriam shrugged helplessly. "So sorry I ever put him in the position he's in. He should be free, Daws--not tied to some hope of a life with me that we can never have."
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Post by skybright on Apr 11, 2008 23:22:02 GMT -5
Daws examined the other woman keenly for a moment as she fished a cigarrette and a match out of her coat. "From where I'm sitting, you never roped Alex into anything, Doc." She said quietly. "He was in this for his own reasons from the beginning -- deep as either one of us was."
She shrugged as she lit the cigarette and blew a small puff of smoke into the darkness. "Maybe he's not in it for some life you'll never have -- maybe he's in it for the one you've got right now."
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Post by Jordanna on Apr 12, 2008 23:04:10 GMT -5
"But that's no life at all." Miriam shook her head sadly. "And I know he wants more--more than I'll ever be able to give him, as long as things are the way they are."
Miriam let out a deep sigh. "Before we left, Daws, he... he asked me to marry him, when we get back." She closed her eyes and hung her head. "I don't have to tell you what my answer was."
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Post by skybright on Apr 12, 2008 23:12:42 GMT -5
Daws nodded silently and looked up at the stars for a long moment. "It's your life, Miriam." She said after a while, "And maybe I'm the last person in the world to take advice from on this. But . . ." She shrugged and blew a smoke ring at the sky. "We're none of us going to live forever, you know -- no matter what happens tomorrow."
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Post by Jordanna on Apr 12, 2008 23:20:44 GMT -5
"I could only hurt him." Miriam wrapped her arms around herself. "I've already let him care too much--but at least this way, maybe it would be a little easier for him to move on, if..."
She broke off and shook her head with a brittle, humorless laugh, sitting down on the step beside the detective. "Sometimes I can't explain it myself, Daws. I only know that I'm so afraid... but not so much of Tiernan as... something else. Maybe--something in me."
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Post by skybright on Apr 12, 2008 23:29:06 GMT -5
"Something in you?" Daws glanced sideways at the other woman with undisguised concern. "Like what?"
She made a faint gesture with one hand. "I mean . . . we all hurt each other, if that's what you mean. It's just human nature -- nothing to be afraid of."
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Post by Jordanna on Apr 12, 2008 23:37:37 GMT -5
"Not... quite." Miriam stared down at her hands and frowned.
"Maybe I've fooled everyone, trying to seem so professional about it, but I've never really been at ease with the fact that my power is so linked to--death. I don't suppose anyone would be. But..." She shrugged, without looking up. "Ever since what happened with Gordie Spake--when my power started to become stronger--it just... hasn't felt the same."
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Post by skybright on Apr 12, 2008 23:41:21 GMT -5
Daws touched Miriam shoulder lightly. "Y'mean the . . . the power or the charge or whatever you want to call it? The one you get from people when . . ." She let the rest of the sentence go unfinished.
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Post by Jordanna on Apr 12, 2008 23:53:56 GMT -5
Miriam nodded. "Yes. You know that before then, I only took away memories--not that power. But since that started..."
She folded her arms over her knees, resting her chin on them, and closed her eyes. "Sometimes I think I'm just imagining it... but sometimes, I think it's been getting even stronger in the times it's happened since. Taken even more from... from them."
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Post by skybright on Apr 13, 2008 0:03:55 GMT -5
"You can't help what you are, Miriam." Daws said quietly, "Any more than I can help havin' fur. This power you draw from the dead . . . " she shook her head, "Don't blame yourself for what you can't control."
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Post by Jordanna on Apr 13, 2008 0:07:52 GMT -5
Miriam finally raised dark and troubled eyes to Daws.
"What if, someday... it was to go beyond only the dead?"
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Post by skybright on Apr 13, 2008 0:14:45 GMT -5
Daws blinked at the other woman in sudden comprehension. "Oh, Miriam . . ." She tightened her grip on Miriam's shoulder slightly. "That's what this is about? You're worried you might . . . might start draining power from one of us? From Alex?"
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