Kate is in Rufus's gang of Merry Men (proudkate) wrote in blurred_lines, @ 2009-01-02 18:16:00 |
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Entry tags: | ! [1980-01] january, gawain robards, kate proudfoot |
RP Log: Gawain Robards & Kate Proudfoot
Who: Gawain Robards & Kate Proudfoot
When: 2 January 1980; around 8:30pm
Where: Kate's flat in Hogsmeade
What: Kate & Gawain make a decision.
Rating: LOW
Status: COMPLETE-ish.
Kate was terribly worried although she was trying to remain calm. She had remained calm when Gawain had gotten there, at least as calm as she could with Gina's blood all over her and her floor and her sofa, despite having put a blanket out across it. She had remained calm while answering Rufus' call, and while corresponding with Alice and Hestia, but now that it was all over, she was finding herself more terrified than she felt she ought to be as an Auror. The government that she had always counted on to protect her and her father, and the people that she loved, had fallen and was no longer there. Instead it had been taken by the very people that she had been fighting against. The people who disembowelled muggles, and sent werewolves after children. And the entire country was in their hands, and it had occurred to her as she had Apparated back to her flat, that her address, her life, all of it was available in the Ministry and so they would know who the aurors were. They would know where she lived. Would she need to move? She pulled out her wand as she approached the front door, suddenly unreasonably nervous. She turned back to look, check that Gawain was here. What was she going to do? What was he going to do? She bit her lip. Gawain would have good ideas. They could work through this, and if she should move, then she could do that. It was not as if she had ever spoke out against them precisely, so perhaps they would have no interest in her - or in her father. When Kate looked back Gawain was there, trying to look as confident and unfaltering as he possibly could. It was hard for him, considering the one constant thing in his life had just been destroyed. Everything he had ever worked for was gone and now he felt lost and confused. Lines were being drawn and things were now black and white. You were with the Ministry or you were not. The chances of having his old job were slim and he refused to work for any sort of company affiliated with the Death Eaters. He would not do it. He noticed Kate's hesitation and he reached out and took her hand in his own as they stood outside her door. He squeezed it gently as he took a small step forward so he was right behind her. "Why don't you go in and head straight for the bathroom. Take a shower, get changed, and I'll clean up for you." Kate nodded, although she was not certain that was what she actually wanted to do. She pushed open the door, her wand still grasped in her hand in case someone should be there waiting for her. But fortunately her flat was small, and it was easily apparent that there was not anyone there. She closed the door behind them, wishing suddenly that she had more wards, more that separated them from the Death Eaters who now held the country, but she couldn't do anything tonight and surely they would not come tonight. Surely. She was going to protest taking a shower, but then she realised that she still had blood dried in various places on her arm, and under her nails, and that her hair no doubt looked frightful, so she squeezed Gawain's hand. "You have to take one when I'm finished," she said firmly, even though he'd have no clothing to change into. That thought hadn't really occurred to her though, and she moved back to the bathroom, closed the door behind her, and stripped off her dirty clothing, standing for long minutes under the hot water. As she stood under the water, the day began to crash in around her. Her job was no longer as it had been. Her world was no longer as it had been. She needed to send an Owl to her Father to stay inside and pray that they were not intercepting them. She wanted to cry, but she knew she couldn't. Gawain was waiting, and she needed to be calm enough to find out what they were going to do. She dried off, pulled on a jumper and a pair of trousers and made her way back to the main sitting area where she had left Gawain. "You should take one too," she said, standing with one arm across her chest, a little awkwardly for all she did not know how to begin. "I'll make us some tea while you do." There were stains on her sofa, she thought. And she wasn't certain if they would come out with a charm. Hopefully. Probably... Gawain watched as Kate disappeared into the bathroom and he let out a deep breath. He pulled his wand from his pocket and stood in the middle of the room, not knowing exactly what he was supposed to do. He crouched down and rolled up the bloodstained blankets on the floor, folding them carefully so as not to make more of a mess. Everything in Kate's flat was so...Kate. The bright colors, the cozy decorations, and the warmth that filled each room but now there was something else as well. Gina's blood was soaked into the carpet and the once bright red spot was now a deep rusty red as it dried and clung to the fibres of the rug. Gawain pointed his wand at the floor and muttered a few spells, hoping to at least fade the color. After a series of spells the color only lifted slightly and he frowned. He tried not to find symbolism between the events of the night and the clinging evil of the blood stain in the centre of Kate's living room. He jumped at the sound of her voice and rose to his feet, hoping she hadn't seen him flinch. "Tea sounds great. Actually, you don't have coffee, do you? I'm not planning on sleeping tonight anyway and I could really use a strong cup. If not, tea is fine." He gave her a half smile and then followed her gaze to the sofa. He didn't say anything, just excused himself to the bathroom to take a much needed shower. Kate did in fact have coffee, and she immediately put on some water, and begin the preparations for both coffee, and a cup of tea for herself. She didn't want to look at her floor, or at her sofa. To look at it was a reminder of what had happened that night, and so as the water finished boiling and she completed the process of putting together the separate beverages, she put both the cup of coffee and the cup of tea on a tray and steadily walked past the sofa, past the blood stain on the rug, and back towards her bedroom. It was perhaps a bit improper for the two of them to spend time in the bedroom, but she didn't want to stare at the reminders, and the bed, thus far, had none of them, and that which would remind her, was more difficult to see from where the bed sat. Setting the tray down on the end of the bed, she climbed carefully onto the bed herself, sitting cross-legged so she could see the tea easily and she waited for Gawain to finish in the shower. She had no idea where to even began to clear out all of the thoughts that were in her mind. What Rufus had said was only part of what she was thinking of, the majority for the moment, was whether or not she was safe. Should she move? What would Gawain be doing now that the Ministry was no more? Would he leave England? Go to France perhaps, to be closer to his daughter? And should she even be thinking of that at this moment in time - no, of course not. A noise somewhere in the flat made her jump and glance up, but just as quickly she realised that it was the floor board near the front door that always settled when it was cold outside, as it was on a night in January. She swallowed and reached for her cup of tea, even though Gawain had not yet finished. She needed to drink it now. Gawain could smell the coffee, even though the scent was faint. The steam of the shower had done little to clear his head but the hot water had relaxed his body at least and that was something. He was still no where near sleep but at least now he was warm and clean. Of course now he was naked and had no clothes and so he found himself in a bit of a predicament. He glanced down at the smoky, dirt covered clothes at his feet and then over to the towel rack. A few minutes later he stepped into the doorway of Kate's bedroom with a towel wrapped around his waist. The look on his face was a mix of amusement and shyness as he stood almost naked in front of her but he found himself almost comfortable in his current situation. "Do you possibly have a blanket or something that I could possibly wrap up in? I'd rather not get back into those clothes and as much as I know you'd love to see me in one of your little skirts I feel it might be a touch uncomfortable and slightly disturbing." He gave her a half smile and hoped that his attempt at comedy might lighten the mood, even it was a bit inappropriate. Kate glanced up at Gawain exited, suddenly rather aware of the fact that he didn't have any clothes here. In fact, at the moment he seemed to not have any clothes at all. Just the towel, and she could feel her cheeks heat up as she couldn't help a glance at his chest. Merlin he was attractive, and she should not be thinking about that right now. "Oh!" She said instead, quickly putting the tea cup down on the tray and moving, as quickly as she could do without disturbing the liquid, over to the window seat. She opened it, pulled out a large patchwork quilt and quickly walked it across the room to where he was standing. "I don't think my skirts would fit you," she said with a shy smile. "Not to mention that you'd be all dressed up and there really isn't anywhere to go." She was rather close to him, and he smelled nice all freshly showered, and Kate realised that with her being clean, and him being clean, that at least part of her worry had somehow lessened - even if it had not all gone away. She stepped away from him and returned to the bed. "I'm sorry I don't have any men's clothes," she added. "I just don't keep any around, obviously. And um, if you don't mind the bed. It's still -" How did you say, our co-worker's blood is still on the living room sofa? "I thought it might be less problematic in some ways." But obviously it could be more problematic in others, she realised as she sat down. Particularly as he was going to be naked under that blanket. On the other hand, a naked man didn't have to be problemantic - particularly not one she liked. And Merlin's beard, why was her mind going there? He understood Kate's reasoning for the relocation to the bedroom and he agreed with her. His main goal was to focus on keeping her calm and comfortable and if being in her bedroom helped he would be alright with that. He would just ignore the fact that he was now wrapped up in her quilt, completely nude otherwise. It was a good thing he felt comfortable around her or else they would both be in a rather awkward predicament. Gawain joined her on the bed, glad for the rather larger wrap around, and he leaned over to take his cup of coffee from the tray. He took one sip and he could feel the caffeine instantly start calming him. He always found great comfort in a strong cup of coffee and it turned out that Kate was quite good at making his exactly the way he liked it. "Gina's going to be alright," he offered lamely. He didn't know what else to say. Kate nodded, although she wasn't certain. Gina needed to be at St Mungo's where there were proper healers, people who could look after her injuries and make certain she would be all right. Not in the middle of nowhere, or someone's living room. She turned her head to watch Gawain drink the coffee and was quiet for a moment. She set aside firmly the fact that he was not wearing anything under the quilt because now was simply not the time to have such thoughts - even if in the back of her mind she couldn't help but wonder when would be that time. "So what Rufus was saying," she started hesitantly, her voice trailing off with a bit of a question mark at the end. She knew what she thought she wanted to do, but she was worried about her Father. What would happen if she didn't show up to work on Monday morning? Her Father had worked for the Ministry at one point. Both her name and his were on record and she could only assume their addresses were as well. She looked around at her flat. It was warm, and comfortable, with the bright colours that her Mother had loved and had always made Kate feel at home. The thought of living on the edge of a lake, did not particularly appeal to her, but she could not imagine it would be safer here in a wizarding village. Even had she wanted to, she would have had a difficult time taking this flat off the radar, because it was surrounded by so many other wizarding buildings and flats. And beyond her own safety, and that of her father, there was the simple matter of what had happened on Friday evening. She had a fair sense of what would happen in a world the Death Eaters were in charge of, and she didn't like that world. He was still processing Rufus's information from the meeting and at first he had no response to Kate's almost question, even though he already knew what he was going to do. There was absolutely no way he could return to work on Monday. He had spent years pouring his entire heart and soul into his job and then, just like that, it was all gone. No, he'd sworn his loyalty to the DMLE and his career as an Auror and he would follow Rufus to the very end, even if that meant giving up his rather comfortable lifestyle. Did they really have any other option than relocating to the loch? They couldn't go back to the Ministry and they couldn't stay in their flats, which left few options, none of which were really that great. "I don't know what to do." He clutched his coffee cup in both hands and held it close to his chest so he could feel the warmth and he knew that he was not hiding his frown well. "I can't go back to my desk in that office, I just can't." That at least did make sense to Kate. She couldn't think about working under Death Eaters - working with the very people that she had spent so long fighting, so many hours picking up so many broken families and hearts because of those who felt they were better than everyone else. She swallowed, and turned her cup of tea in her hand. She didn't like to think that she was afraid of the Loch, or that she was so spoiled that she could not live in those conditions. Her eyes flitted around her small studio, resting unnaturally long towards the front where Gina had been earlier. She turned her dark eyes to Gawain. "We have to go don't we?" She asked him quietly. "I mean, I can't work there. You can't work there. We could hide. Or," she shrugged, glancing around the flat. "We could run, to France, or somewhere," but the words were half-hearted because she knew that Gawain wouldn't run. Even the brief amount of time that she'd known him, she knew he couldn't. And she knew almost with equal certainty, that she wouldn't leave him. Whatever they were doing, she wanted to do it together. He wished that he could just drop everything and leave. If ever there was a time that he wished he was a quitter it was at that very moment. He had to go with Rufus and the others and she knew it. She would follow him, that he knew. She had been the one to suggest running but he knew that she shared his loyalties. He could see it in her eyes, that she had resolved herself to running. They had no other option. "We won't be there forever. We'll runaway when we're not needed. As soon as this is all over we'll go to some remote island in the middle of nowhere and just let the sunlight and the crystal blue water heal us. We'll have each other, no matter what happens." Kate looked at him, watching his face carefully. She knew he wouldn't agree to it but his attempts at lightning things made her smile and she leaned forward and kissed him lightly, but pulled back rather quickly, her cheeks flushing slightly. "We will have each other," she said firmly and she meant it entirely. She could have pretended any number of things, but she was pretty certain that even if Gawain hadn't been there, she would have still followed Rufus - no matter how difficult that might be. But with Gawain, she didn't have any other choice. She wanted him to always be there with her and if that meant following him into the wilderness then she would do so. "And it might not be that terrible," she said, trying for optimism as she glanced around the room. "We have a bit of time, we can gather some things up, and I need to check on my father. And you will probably want to check on Jeanette and Noelle," she looked over at him, although it was not really a question. She knew Gawain well enough to know that he would need to check on them. "I suppose that I should pick up anything I do not want them to get, shouldn't I? Once we leave, they won't let us come back," she sighed, the optimism sliding away some as she realised that she wouldn't get much more time in this flat. She'd liked her flat. It was so very comfortable and so very much her - it was one of the reasons she'd never moved back in with her father, even though she had been tempted to do so for safety. "I'll go to France in the morning and get things squared away. I think that I'll take my personal things with me, boxes of photos and all. She can store them until we're able to come back. I have some papers to dispose of in my office..." He remembered the coffee balancing on his knee and he took a long drink from the mug. "Tonight we shall think of a game plan and then tomorrow we will execute it and be back to camp before check-in. We'll experience a Scotland winter and come back with a tale to tell." He followed her gaze around the flat and then he gave her a sad smile. "We'll take what we can and decorate your living space at camp. Maybe your flat will still be here when this is all over." Kate glanced around the surroundings. She was somehow rather doubtful that it would be, but in the end it didn't matter did it? That wasn't the most important thing, and to be sentimental over her flat and the things she had acquired in life when people had died and would probably continually dying, and the Ministry had been taken over by Death Eaters was worse than silly and naive, it struck her as almost evil. Not evil in the sense of the Death Eaters evil, but still. "I'll go by Father's then," she said softly. "I don't think I should tell him much, should I?" She asked quietly. "The less he knows the less danger he'll be in, I think." That was the thing that worried her the most. Her Father had worked in the Ministry once, and their names would be the same, he'd be known as her father. If she got in any trouble for leaving, they would question him, surely, wouldn't they? Would he be in danger? Gawain nodded. "The less the better, yeah. I don't know if I'm going to tell Jeanette the entire story, to be honest. I might just drop off my stuff, say goodbye, set wards, and then leave. It might just be better if she thinks whatever bollocks the media comes up with is true. I don't think she or Noelle would ever believe anything bad about any of us but at least that way she will be able to tell the truth if she is ever found and questioned." He reached out and placed his free hand on Kate's knee and gave her a half-smile. "I've heard quite a bit about your dad from your stories and I think that he will be able to hold his own through this. As long as our families comply with the new rules, which I'm sure they will have, things should be fine. Hopefully the Death Eaters will think we've given up and gone our separate ways." "Right. Whatever stories circle, I'm sure they will be hardly flattering," she sighed. "But if they know nothing that is anything different, then at least they won't have to lie. Even if they don't believe what the stories are, they won't have to lie." She slid her hand over his and squeezed it gently. "Would you come with me?" she asked him. "Double check his wards too. I-" She hesitated. It wasn't as if it were necessary, she supposed. She had been over her father's wards a dozen times and she was certain they were fine. There wasn't probably anything Gawain could add that she wouldn't have thought of - although there might be, she supposed. Mostly, she wanted her Dad to meet Gawain. She wanted him to know, before whatever stories began to circulate about them both, that the man she had learned to care for was a good man. "You don't have to," she said. "It's not that I can't go over them myself. And you've got to get to France and back... I'll meet you at the camp tomorrow then." He flipped his hand so he could twist his fingers with hers. "I'll go to your dad's with you and then I'll go to France. I can go to my flat earlier, gather my things, and just go from there. Maybe I'll go to France first and then meet you at your dad's. I can understand that you want someone to double check things and I'm more than happy to be the one to do it." He gave her a reassuring smile, letting her know that he was truly comfortable with the task she was asking. He couldn't blame her, wanting her father to be safe. "Don't ever be afraid to ask me for anything, Kate. I know that we've only been together for a short time but I've grown attached to you, like it or no, and I will do anything that you ask of me. All you have to do is call me and I'll be there. I promise." Kate smiled and breathed out. This had not been what she had imagined this year being like. On New Year's Eve she'd been so thrilled with the start of new year - optimistic that the war would be over and that she and Gawain could spend the year getting closer. "I don't suppose," she shook her head. "I mean, if we're going to be at the camp together, I suppose we still will be able to get close in the middle of the wilderness," she blushed slightly. "I mean, I guess, what I'm trying to say." She paused. "What I'm trying to say is that I've grown attached to you too, and I want to be with you and I'm very grateful for you being here." She sat the tea down on the bedside table and moved across the room to her closet, immediately pulling out some books and a few things that she could place into a box. It was almost overwhelming to think about what she should take, what she should leave at her father's, what she should simply leave there. One way or another, they would make it through whatever was to come. |