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prettypoppet ([info]prettypoppet) wrote in [info]toujoursliberer,
@ 2008-07-15 00:30:00

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Entry tags:harry_fisher, mary_roper

Mary, Harry and overdue discussions

Subject: sibling bonding
Who: Mary Roper
Where: Harry's town house
Warnings: a good deal of older-brotherly reprimands and kid-sister-puppy-eyes; discussions of underworld dealings and child abuse
Open to: Harry

This was her first excursion out of her room in days, and the study was about as far as she could manage. She'd gotten caught out in the rain halfway home and it had turned into a splendid bit of chills, then a fever. She'd had the worst dreams of her life, and that was saying something. Worse, she'd woken up to the housekeeper fussing at her and weilding a great deal of moral indignation on the matter of young ladies running about London and catching chills and not being indoors at a decent hour and brothers who weren't taking their younger sisters in hand and this was not how a proper household was run and what sort of upbringing had they had? Mary had thought it best she didn't answer that last question.

It was one room the housekeeper didn't come in too often, so Mary had gotten in the habit of taking it over when Harry wasn't about, which was often. The couch made a perfect spot for curling up with a pillow and a copy of the Arabian Nights she'd found stuck in a bookshelf full of boring tomes on finance and economies. It had been her favorite book in the world when she was little, one of the few memories she had from back then. She sighed and snuggled deeper under the blanket, trying to escape the chill in the room and frowned as her foot started tingling. Blitzer had decided she was the best possible thing to  sleep on in the entire room and apparently a large dog could not only serve as a very good blanket but a tourniquet as well. 

"You shouldn't even be sleeping, you know. You're supposed to be a ferocious beast, remember?" she told him severely as she set about attempting to nudge him off of her leg. This earned her a growly snorting sound from the dog which she in turn ignored. "Oh  a vicious lamb, you are. Now stop that and move." Blitzer sneezed but shifted his bulk. Mary lay back down, suddenly exhausted. "I think I liked you better when you were all drool and fangs. No more biscuits for you." Blitzer yawned in what she deemed to be a very impudent manner.

The sound of the door opening interrupted any further negotiations and Mary quickly sat up and straightened the neckline of her dayrobe  and tried to look at least a little composed, but gave up. She hadn't the energy to manage it. Instead she just laid back down. Besides, it wasn't as if she'd be convincing Blitzer to move anytime soon.

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[info]social_climber
2008-07-15 04:58 am UTC (link)
"Looking to steal the family business?" Harry asked, opening the door and stepping in. He'd heard her talking as he walked down the hallway, for the moment lost in his own thoughts. There was so much to think about; his meeting with Constance, all this business with Slater and the sudden rush of new clientele which seemed to be diverting Nell’s attention. But he was home now, and none of this needed to be thought about until he’d had a drink and a rest. And a sleep, if his twisted writhing thoughts would let him.

It was Mary’s voice from within the study that had pulled him from his worries, and the sound of Blitzer’s snuffly snores. His study was his, private, a secret place for him to relax. Not even the housekeeper went in without his express permission. He was expecting to see Mary rifling through the draws, searching the bookcase for secrets. He expected betrayal from everywhere now, and she knew Slater. She knew Slater… but she was his sister, first and foremost, his sister. He had been wrong to even think that of Mary.

And there she was, sat happily down on the sofa with a book and Blitzer. He hadn’t expected betrayal to come from the dogs… “Blitzer! Off!” He said sharply as he shut the door, and the Staffordshire jumped down as if cracked with a whip. “Good boy.” He petted the dog’s head, turning his attention back to Mary. “Don’t let him on the furniture, he gets ideas above his station.”

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[info]prettypoppet
2008-07-15 03:26 pm UTC (link)
Mary sighed in relief as Blitzer leapt off the couch and scrambled across the floor to her brother. She yawned and turned a bright smile on Harry. "I thought about it, but I decided it's not to my liking. I think I shall be taking up piracy instead. I was meaning to ask you if you knew where to find a decent parrot."

But there was something in his posture and tone that warned her and she sat up, slowly as he shut the door. There was a lot going on and he hadn't told her even a bit of it, she was dead sure, and something looked close to setting him off. Or he was just tired. Not for the first time she wished she could read her own brother half as well as she could other people.

"Sorry about Blitzer. Only he looked so sad on the floor... and I hope you don't mind my being in here. No one said I wasn't allowed, and, well, it's out of the housekeeper's way," she admitted with a sheepish look. "She's in a right pique with me over this last bit and..." Mary shrugged. She glanced at the closed door and back at Harry and she hoped she didn't look as suddenly nervous as she felt. This wasn't Slater's court, there were different rules. "Is- is somethin wrong, Harry?"

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[info]social_climber
2008-07-15 04:28 pm UTC (link)
"A pirate? A parrot?" He replied, raising his eyebrows at her, walking across the room towards his desk, and half-dropping, half-throwing, himself into the comfortable chair behind, relaxing there and letting the tense muscles in his back and shoulders and talking a long, calming breath. "I don't think the life of a pirate queen'll suit your delicate constitution, Mary. Ann'd do better." He teases, fingers moving to scratch the dog's ears.

"I don't mind you being here, I don't. I'm just... a bit preoccupied right now. Lots to think about." He offered her a small smile, reaching forwards to open one of his desk draws and pull out a couple of glasses and a half-empty bottle of scotch. "Want to join me in a drink?" He asked, pouring himself a measure, and keeping the bottle mouth hoovering over the second glass.

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[info]prettypoppet
2008-07-15 06:32 pm UTC (link)
His teasing took the edginess out of her and she relaxed back against the arm of the sofa. "Delicate constitution?" she repeated, scrunching her nose in distaste. "It's just a chill, Harry. Still, you're right. You're the merchant prince and Ann's a bonny good pirate." She sighed. So what exactly was she? Aside from the unnecessary one. She twirled a lock of hair around her finger. "Looks as if I'm destined to be the princess in the tower then. No help for it, so yes, I'll take a bit."

Her eyes locked on Harry's for a moment and she didn't bother trying not to look worried. She wasn't sure she should push, but she wouldn't learn the rules if she didn't. "What are you thinking about? And don't say nothing, or it isn't any of my worry or such. It is, what with you looking like an ogre who ain't had breakfast and the maids hiding from you, and the housekeeper goin' all funny 'bout my goin' out without a chaperone as if I was some proper girl who hadn't a lick of sense." She didn't roll her eyes but she dearly wanted to. She had a feeling what Nell said was the root of the issue- Harry and Slater, but she could wait for Harry to explain himself.

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[info]social_climber
2008-07-16 04:15 am UTC (link)
Harry got to his feet as he poured her glass, picking it up and taking it over to her, perching on the other chair-arm with his own drink. "You're the princess, Mary. The one with grace and pose and a bit o'class. Ann and me could never have got a job in a big fancy house. You're the presentable one." He told her, leaning over and patting her shoulder. "Don't belittle yourself. Your Harry Fisher's little sister. No some street scum."

As she asked what was troubling him, he couldn't help but sigh and take another deep swallow of his scotch. "Just a lot on my mind. Slater's been trying to hire Nell and the other boys out from under me. Viv fu- leaving. You and Ann back from the dead. Just a lot to think about, Mary." He said, offering her a smile and taking another sip from his glass. "Nothing that need trouble you."

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[info]prettypoppet
2008-07-16 04:18 pm UTC (link)
Mary had the grace to blush at least, but she shook her head. "Now you're bein' charming, brother. You could have done just fine in the big houses if you'd wanted." This was said with the perfect sincerity that came from the belief that her brother could do absolutely anything he wanted and do it well. She accepted the drink and smiled. "Thank you." The irony that he was more or less echoing Slater's thoughts on certain matters did not escape her and she laughed. "A princess of pubs and nurseries... I am a novelty." She rolled her eyes and took a sip of the scotch. She was going to miss these moments when she left, she thought. It was nice having a brother.

She turned the glass in her hand, watching the light reflecting in the dark amber liquid. "Nell mentioned some of that.." She paused and looked up at him curiously. She was pretty sure Slater would have been snarling at the insult but she wasn't sure that's what had Harry so bothered. "I understand you not wanting to lose Nell to him Harry, but boys come and go. New ones aren't so hard to find... and if they aren't takin' the offer, why worry?"

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[info]social_climber
2008-07-16 04:47 pm UTC (link)
He couldn't help but turn and stare at her as if she'd grown another head. "Why worry, Mary? Why bloody worry?" He said, voice matching his expression. "Because that's not how it works, Mary. It's not how it goes- boys come and go but you don't steal boys from someone else's business." He told her, taking a long swallow and finishing off his drink. "It's not done. I ain't gone round there and tried to steal any of Slater's lot, and I don't expect him to try and steal mine. Especially not Nell. Slater and I have this unspoke agreement- he don't come this side of the river, and I don't go his side. He's trying to piss me off, and he's succeding. So some of my lads are going to go pay him a nice little visit one night this week."

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[info]prettypoppet
2008-07-16 05:05 pm UTC (link)
She sighed. Djinn and their pride. Mary watched her brother carefully, trying to figure out if she was in any danger of catching a thrashing. Well, if she were it would at least be useful in the future, wouldn't it? "All right, Harry. Slater wanted to provoke you and he did." The idea of his lads going in the night, though... she shuddered and tried not to think about the way her throat constricted. Wouldn't be the first time, she reminded herself. Warning Slater wouldn't solve nothing and this was a fight they both wanted in any case...

Mary curled her legs up and rested her chin on her knees. "You have got a bit to think about, then. A war with Slater, Harry? That's not going to be a pretty sight. Slater knows where to hurt you, too." Her expression was worried. She loved Harry but she loved Slater too. Their having it out wasn't something she wanted to see.

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[info]social_climber
2008-07-16 05:46 pm UTC (link)
"Slater does know how to hurt me, he's done it before. When you were only knee high to a toadstool an'all." He said bitterly, getting to his feet and pouring himself another stiff drink. "If he hadn't killed Georgie, none of this would have happened. I'm not going to let him do the same thing to Nell. Or any of the other boys." He drained the glass in one swallow. "And yes, a tuff war will be nasty. People'll be killed. Maybe even me. But there won't be room for anyone to sit on the fence. Not you, not Viv, not God."

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[info]prettypoppet
2008-07-16 05:57 pm UTC (link)
Mary bit her lip and put the glass town. If he hit her, she didn't want to risk getting cut, but she had to say it. "Harry, I'm sorry your friend died. Slater don't do with runaways... but..." She swallowed hard and took a breath to make sure she could actually say it. When she spoke, her voice was quiet. "It ain't like he's the worst of the lot, Harry. There's lots worse than him. Slater kills but... there are worse things." That part she knew firsthand. "And you kill him, you think you'll rule the kingdom? Maybe. Or maybe we'll all lose and someone worse takes it. Maybe you die too. What happens to the boys then? Nell? Piper? If they ain't dead in the crossfire, that is?"

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[info]social_climber
2008-07-16 06:10 pm UTC (link)
"I have never, never, killed a boy who left me, Mary. Never. And I never intend to. But Slater seemed to think it was fair game, killing a child because he was sick of being beaten every minute of the night." He was hissing now, the blood boiling in his veins. "Georgie was my responcibility! Mine! And he got killed by Slater. And now Slater wants to have Nell, and Piper, and Robin and Illya and the rest! All of them! He ain't going to keep asking nicely, neither. He'll take what he wants, soon enough, and he'll have them beaten too, if they fight him. And then they'll be killed if they try to leave."

He had to catch his breath, force himself to be calm. He didn't want to drive Mary out, not after everything, not after Viv. But none of these women seemed to care about him, about his boys. They loved Slater, just wanted Slater to get through it alright, damn Harry to hell. Oh, they made a big show about caring for the Theatre, about the boys, but they didn't really give a rat's arse. "Look, Mary. If I don't fight, Slater will walk all over me. Kill me. If I fight back, I'm protecting what's mine. My boys. My theatre. My family. My home. See? Slater just wants more and more and more. Do you understand that?"

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[info]prettypoppet
2008-07-16 06:55 pm UTC (link)
Tears stung her eyes. She didn't want to have this fight but he he had to... he had to understand. If you didn't understand then you'd lose the war. Harry was making things too simple. Slater was never simple.

"Harry, stop! He's got you now, he's pushed you and he knows it and you're just going to lose if you don't..." her voice caught on a sob. "You just don't got... the rules..." Mary could feel the squares on her back and concentrated on that for just a moment. Rules kept you or killed you. She wiped her cheek with a hand and made herself look at Harry.

"You think he's just a thug and a killer and nothing, don't you? An old man without nothing but killing and hurting who don't got an eye on anything else?" she said it, remembering his words that first day. "You're not seeing him, Harry. He sees you, but you're fighting someone else. I won't ask you not to do this. But I want you to go in knowing, so maybe you won't... maybe you won't lose." Tears fell again, and she let them slide down her cheeks. "I don't want you to lose." But she would lose one of them, no matter what and it hurt like nothing ever had.

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[info]social_climber
2008-07-16 07:01 pm UTC (link)
Harry simply looked at her. He had no words, couldn't manage anything but the anger inside of him. Slater had been a right pal, a best mate to Mary. To Harry, he'd never been nothing more than a killer. And the thing that made him most angry, most angry in all the world, was the fact that he couldn't tell who Mary would side with. And after all this bad luck recently, it seemed to him that it would be Slater.

"So. What do you want to tell me? Or do you just want me to go have a few drinks with Slater first? Get to know what a nice bastard he really is?" He managed, balled fists shaking slightly.

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[info]prettypoppet
2008-07-16 08:52 pm UTC (link)
"No." Mary's heart was pounding. He wasn't going to listen. Not really. He--he wouldn't... "I just... I'll just show you."

Without letting herself give it a thought, she stood up, letting the blanket fall down to the couch. She looked at Harry silently for a moment, her blue eyes going carefully empty before she turned around.

She untied the dayrobe and let it slip down her back. She'd been to shaky to manage stays and hadn't bothered with a chemise, so her back was bare down to her skirt, enough that the top half of the gameboard was visible. A circle made with vicious precision and two x's, cut jagged and colored differently from where they hadn't scarred properly the first time. The lines between were more faded, but the tops of other letters were just below them.

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[info]social_climber
2008-07-17 04:26 am UTC (link)
Harry stared. He stared at the mess of scars and injuried flesh. It took him a moment to recover from the shock. He'd seen scars of course, and on one or two occasions scarring much worse that this- but these were on the back of his little sister, his baby sister.

He was shaking with anger when he managed to speak, "He... He did that to you?" Were the only words he managed, the emotion spilling into his voice.

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[info]prettypoppet
2008-07-17 01:24 pm UTC (link)
Mary was still for a moment, then retied the sash with careful movements before she turned around. "No." She didn't look at Harry as she sat back down, curling up in the same position she'd been before, but her eyes stayed locked on the book cases behind her brother. "That was Jon's game. O's win, you get another chance; crosses win..." She shrugged. "Slater stopped it. He came when--" but there were lines she wouldn't cross there and her voice quavered. She shook her head and pushed those particular things back in the box they should stay in. "No more Jon."

Mary drew a deep breath. "I was twelve then. No family, no money, nowhere to go... Slater let me stay at his place. He said I wasn't to be one of his girls and he never touched me. He made sure I was safe." She risked a glance at her brother, and wondered if he'd understand that, or be mad at her for saying it.

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[info]social_climber
2008-07-18 03:36 am UTC (link)
Harry didn't respond, crossing his arms slowly after a long moment and moving back to the large window behind the desk, leaning against the wall and staring out of it into the gathering darkness. "I'm glad he didn't hurt you." He said after what could have been an age, his mind whirling away quietly behind eyes lost in the gloom outside, trying to make out the shapes of the houses opposite. Darby. Pity the bastard was dead, but there wasn't anything Harry could do about his fate now, after all. Nothing. And Mary's story didn't make Slater a nice man, didn't by any stretch of the imagination. He killed people, people who didn't deserve it, more importantly, and now he was threatening Harry's livelihood. Mary's past didn't come into it, didn't prove a thing, aside from Slater might have had a few more human emotions than Harry had previously given him credit for.

"I'm glad he looked after you. I would have done, if I'd known." He said, turning to her, hoping that she knew he would have done anything to protect her. Anything. But business wasn't that easy, it wasn't simply and it wasn't full of Christian charity.

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[info]prettypoppet
2008-07-18 03:59 am UTC (link)
She smiled, although it didn't quite reach her eyes. "I know, Harry. But you were dead," she said without bitterness. At least he knew now... She was quiet too and reached for her glass. The danger was over for now anyway. The rest was easier. She took a sip, as she sort of relaxed herself back into being Mary and slipped the rest of it back to where it belonged.

"I don't want you to go have tea with him." She shook her head at that idea. "'sides, one of you would poison the cups. But, if you hate him so much, why do you want his kingdom? And if you only want rid o' him... Someone's got to rule, and if it ain't Slater it's only gonna be somethin' worse."

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[info]social_climber
2008-07-18 04:03 am UTC (link)
"I doubt I'd be worse." Harry retorted, insulted by the implication that he, he of all people, was worse than Slater. "And I don't want his territory, I want him to stop moving in on mine. I can't fight a defensive war, Mary, I haven't got the resources. I just don't want his boy taking over either. He'll be just as bad and even if I spared him he'd start a blood feud and none of us would reach 40." He explains, sitting on the edge of his desk.

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[info]prettypoppet
2008-07-18 04:50 am UTC (link)
"I wasn't meaning you, Harry" she said with an edge of exasperation and slid back into a more comfortable position against the arm of the couch. "I know you ain't got the same stuff in you as that lot. I was just worried maybe you hadn't noticed."

She sighed. There just was not enough Scotch to make this go away. "So a proper war. All right. You win, you hold his place, then? That ought to be interesting." She turned her head to look at Harry consideringly. He looked like exactly what he was, a djinn prince. Handsome, proud, and nearly unknowable, with rules that humans didn't understand, but he was still her brother and if anyone could play against Slater's court and win it would be him.

"I thought you already had reached that mark." She managed to keep a straight face but only just.

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[info]social_climber
2008-07-18 05:04 am UTC (link)
"You're a cheeky little whatsit, aren't you?" Harry retorted, although she had managed to break the tension in the room. He poured himself a third drink of the evening, and moved over to her, topping up her own glass up. "I am a way bit off forty, thank you." He told her as he set the decanter down and flopped back into his seat. "A fair bit off. Cheeky sod." He repeated, taking a long swallow of his drink.

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[info]prettypoppet
2008-07-18 10:39 pm UTC (link)
"It's so kind of you to notice, brother dear." She laughed as he poured another drink and held her glass up as he filled hers. "Thank you," she said as he poured.

"Oh, don't look so solemn, Harry. It causes wrinkles." She grinned and took a sip of the Scotch. "'sides, you know I wouldn't tease you if I didn't love you so. It's only my solemn duty as your little sister to make up for eight years of not pestering you."

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