Demi Rafferty (enavant) wrote in remains_rpg, @ 2016-02-17 00:29:00 |
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Entry tags: | # 2019 [01] january, demi rafferty, viktor scherbatsky |
Or did you know, even then, it doesn’t matter
Who: Vic Scherbatsky and Demi Rafferty
Where: Demi’s trailer
What: An adoptive father and his daughter catch up after over a year apart.
When: Backdated, January 9th, 2019.
A hermit she was not, but Demi found herself spending more time than she used to inside her trailer. She was playing catch up, had been playing catch up since the moment she set foot back in the Dog Park. In some ways she wondered if she still had a place here, she wasn’t what she had been before her imprisonment and her heart ached for a man who wouldn't set foot in this place if someone paid him to. This was a thought that weighed heavily on her mind, that kept her up at night and spurred her on to sending short messages of “I miss you” and “I hope you’re okay.” To Isaac when it was three a.m. and she couldn't sleep. Forcing herself to break her newfound hermit habit, Demi was sitting on a lawn chair just outside her trailer, smiling and holding brief conversations with whoever happened to pass by her. But she rose up from the chair as a mountain of a man started down the trailer row, her mood suddenly lifted at the sight of Vic. “Hey you,” Demi called out, a smile blooming on her face as Vic, who recognized her voice immediately, turned to face her with a smile of his own. “Heading somewhere important? Or do you have time to play a little catch up with your favorite daughter?” She continued as the Hellhounds Enforcer got closer. There was a twinkle in her dark eyes and humor in her tone. "Guess I might as well." He'd been in the middle of stomping off to see about some kind of disturbance that had happened earlier that day, but tending to that could wait. Despite his words, there was no hesitation before he stepped over towards her RV and took a seat in the empty chair next to her. "We got a lot of lost time to make up for." Demi had a lot of things she wanted to ask Vic about, but selfishly none of that mattered because what she really wanted was just to spend some time with him. You never realize just how much you miss a person until you no longer have access to them, and the brief meeting at the bar had only served to make that ache more apparent in the months that followed. And while they had escaped La Quinta together, they hadn't had a chance to truly catch up or even say more than a few words to each other in passing. “I've already caught up with Sasha, but if I didn't know any better I’d say you were dodging me,” Demi teased. “Afraid I’ll grill you all about the recent changes in your life and living arrangements?” She continued, not so subtly hinting that she wanted to hear his side of what was going on with him and Marina. "Yeah, 'cause I don't have a lot of things to do around here," Vic shot back, instantly picking up on the intentions behind her words. He didn't mind the interest and the prying, and it wasn't something completely unexpected from Demi. It was true that he'd been kinda scarce, though, not just from Demi but from others he'd missed while he'd been gone. He was moody about stuff he couldn't even name half the time, but he'd be damned if he didn't take her up on this opportunity considering how much time had passed since they'd been able to really do this. "What do you want to know? May as well get specific so I don't waste your time." It was definitely beyond obvious to Demi that Vic wasn’t exactly his normal self, but who would be after staying in La Quinta? She knew more than anyone just how terrible that place was. “See, I knew it! You’re just in your trailer being lazy all day,” she replied, a small grin flashing across her features as she looked at him. The grin grew wider when he didn't dodge her prying about Marina, though her eyebrows knit together at the last part about wasting her time. “Hey now, talking to you would never be a waste of my time.” Demi had missed a lot of people during the time she had been away, but Vic ranked right up near the top of that list. “How’d it happen? How are you doing? Are you happy? I want to know everything.” She continued, the words spilling out in a rush. Maybe it was unreasonable to expect to be able to catch up in such a short span of time, still, Demi was going to try. Selfishly she wanted to feel connected to this place and these people again, and hoped that that feeling might return if she felt like she was caught up on everything that had happened since she had been gone. Her enthusiasm was overwhelming, though; Vic put his hands up as she finished her barrage of questions, shaking his head. "Christ, Demi, ease up a little, will you?" There'd been so many questions, Vic didn't even know where to begin. That last one, though -- 'Are you happy?' -- didn't seem to have an answer he could express out loud, either. He was real fucking happy to be back home with Marina and Sasha and his family, and he hoped he hadn't given anyone any reason to doubt that. Besides that, though? The lost feeling that hung around him more often than not pretty much sucked. “Sorry,” Demi quickly apologized, offering him a small smile before giving him time to answer whichever question he saw fit to answer. While she wanted to know everything, she could take a step back and accept it all in small doses, so after her apology the younger woman allowed the silence to fall around them for however long Vic wanted to take in answering. "I guess it all just happened. We had a big thing, a Chapel with everyone way back in August, right when things started going south real fast. She wasn't happy with some of the stuff Rodeo said that night and she was thinking about leaving the Dog Park. She ended up crashing with me for a little while, then we just ended up kind of falling into it." He shrugged his left shoulder. "I guess we got together around September. Middle of the month, maybe." Dark eyes stayed focused on him as he began to relay just how he and Marina had come to be a thing. With a small nod, she began. “I heard about that Chapel,” though second hand information had left out a lot of the larger details. “You know I've learned first hand that living with someone can result in just “falling into it”,” Demi remarked with the faintest of smiles, her mind flashed to an image of Isaac and she tried to shake the ever present heartache she felt at being separated from him. “You’ve now told me how you got together, but you haven't told me if she makes you happy?” Because that was the most important thing to Demi, that Vic was happy in this new relationship he had found himself in. “And did she tell you we met over Thanksgiving?” She paused. “I met Max too.” "'Cause I'd still be with her after all that if I wasn't happy, right?" As patient as he could be with all the questions and prying, this one seemed like a given. Why would he have even started something up with a woman, considering the situation with Zhenya's passing. Bringing someone into Sasha's life hadn't been something he took all that lightly. "Of course she does," he said then, trying to not let his annoyance show. It had been a while since he and Demi had been able to really catch up. "And yeah, both of them mentioned that to me. I heard you tried to threaten her or something like that." Unfazed by Vic’s words, Demi just shrugged. “I've been gone over a year, maybe I'm trying not to make assumptions about people and the things I think they would or wouldn't do,” she answered honestly. A small smile appeared when he finally said aloud that Marina made him happy. While she could have assumed as much, there was something about actually hearing it from him. “I wouldn't say I threatened her,” Demi began, not viewing their conversation in that way at all. “I just made it clear that hurting you wasn't something she should do.” She still had absolutely no regrets over that conversation, Demi was nothing if not fiercely protective of the people she loved and considered to be family. “So I mean if you view that as a threat, than maybe I did. But I'm not going to say I'm sorry for what I said because I’d say it again in a heartbeat.” She paused only a moment before she added. “And you can't tell me you wouldn't have done the same exact thing if you had been in my shoes.” "I ain't looking for an apology about it." As far as he was concerned, it was touching that even after so much time apart, Demi was still looking after him as much as she could. Even if Marina had been irked by it -- and Vic didn't think she had been -- it was just the way she was. And she was right; he would do the exact same damn thing if the situations were turned. "And I don't think she is, either. She just mentioned it kinda offhand. A joke, you know?" He added then, perfectly deadpan, "Not sure you're familiar with the concept." “Not familiar with it at all,” Demi replied dryly, giving him a look she was almost positive she hadn't used since she was a teenager and dealing with her own father. “They don't tell jokes where I come from.” Now a smirk was threatening to disrupt her attempt to look like a disgruntled teenager. The exchange they were having now felt oddly normal, it almost made Demi feel as if settling back into life in the Dog Park would be easier than she expected it to be. “For the record I like her,” She was smiling now, a small kind of reassuring smile. “Not that you need my approval or anything, but I thought you should know.” Demi absolutely didn't think about whether or not Vic might say the same about Isaac. If she were being honest his opinion did matter, a hell of a lot more than a lot of people’s opinions. "I don't," Vic said with an easy, lopsided shrug, "But that is good to know." It likely wouldn't have made a difference if Demi felt otherwise, unless it'd been because of a real red flag or something he ought to know about, but it was a hell of a lot easier this way. “I know,” Demi answered with a laugh. “You're a grown man who can make his own decisions,” she added, quickly shifting gears to something that had been on her own mind. “I'm assuming you met Isaac?” Of course Vic had met Isaac, no doubt they had likely sat across a table from each other in some small interrogation room. Still, she was curious to know Vic’s opinion or impression of him - even if they had been on different sides of the justice system. Vic couldn't help but scoff at the thought of the man he had indeed met during his stint in jail. "Yeah, we had plenty of time to talk." He had recognized the man as being the one Demi was involved with almost immediately. "He's a real mouthy son of a bitch, but I guess that's what they pay him for." Or at least, had paid him for, prior to his switching sides. Demi was not at all surprised by Vic’s initial reaction, after all it wasn't as if he and Isaac would have become vast friends while Isaac was busy trying to gather information to lock them away life. “Something tells me you didn't do much talking in those exchanges,” she countered with a faint smile. “And he is, but I happen to love that mouthy son of a bitch.” Demi paused for a moment, surprised by the fact she had said it so easily, thus far she had only said the actual words to Isaac. “Plus, I kind of figured he has to be to put up with me.” She didn't point out that Isaac was the reason any of them had managed to escape La Quinta. Without the intel he had given her, she would have never known where to lead the imprisoned Hellhounds to. "How do y'all make this work, then?" Vic couldn't help but ask, waving his hand around vaguely at the Dog Park, at himself, at Demi, at the world around them. Considering all the shit that he and the rest of them had actually done, plus all the shit that the DoJ thought they'd also done, too, he couldn't exactly blame Isaac for being so against them. But if he was hoping to make something with Demi work, attitude to match her or not… It was a hell of an obstacle. Demi’s gaze followed the movement of Vic’s hand, undeniably she was buying herself time in answering his question. She and Isaac, they had a lot of hurdles to overcome and considering they were just finally on good terms again she couldn't entirely say how exactly they made it work. “Right now, I'm not sure,” Demi replied honestly while she reached down to scratch Hobbes behind the ear, Hobbes having settled himself at her feet. “But I want to figure out how it could work, so that’s something, right?” She just had no idea how she could go from wanting to figure it out, to actually making it work. Vic gave a nod, a thoughtful, apprehensive look on his face. She'd never spoken of the guy in a bad way, but he didn't like the idea of this one bit. Especially now that she'd just come back to the Dog Park and they were back in each other's lives again. "He doesn't take it out on you, does he? His crusade against all of us?" Shifting gears, her eyes went wide as his questions registered and she met Vic’s gaze. “God no, Isaac wouldn't stoop that low, like, ever,” she was quick to defend him and clear up any opinions Vic might have been forming about him. “He stuck his neck on the line to keep me out of La Quinta twice, twice Vic. Hell, he even let Olinger put cameras all over our apartment, let his privacy be invaded just to keep me out of that place.” Guilt still ate at her about that, about how she had lied to him, gone against his wishes and he had still done everything he could to keep her safe. “Honestly, I'm not sure I deserve someone as good as him,” Demi admitted, “Vic, I ruined the life he had in the Capitol and he still loves me…” Realizing she was rambling on, making herself the centered of the conversation Demi gave the bigger man a sheepish smile as she said. “Fuck, sorry, I didn't mean to unload all of that on you. You’ve been through hell and here I am basically seeking out advice from you, like you don't have more important things to do concerning this place.” Now it was her turn to wave her hand around, indicating the very place they were sitting in, the place they called home and the place Vic was charged with protecting. It wasn't anything he wasn't used to, and in all honesty he was glad for the chance to hear all of it -- even if he hated most of what he actually heard. "Sounds like a fucking mess," he said plainly, "even though I'm guessing you already know that." Sure, the stuff about Isaac apparently doing right by Demi despite how much he hated the people she loved was better than what he'd expected. But the entire situation still grated on him. "It's okay. We all got our own shit going on. I guess sometimes you need to talk about that stuff, you know?" Despite feeling guilty for unloading all of that onto Vic, there was comfort in being able to talk to him again. She had always, always done better with things when she could seek out fatherly advice, and Vic was the closest person she had to a father in Austin. “It is a fucking mess,” she replied just as plainly. “And I do know that. But it wouldn't be my life if it weren't just a little messy, maybe I like the drama and the challenge...” She offered a small smile, knowing that Vic would no doubt catch the fact that she was joking about that last part. Nobody liked drama in their relationship, and really compared to a month ago there was really far less drama in her relationship with Isaac. “I'm glad I could talk about it with you,” Demi reached across the small space between them and laid a hand on Vic’s arm. He echoed the gesture, wrapping his larger hand around her arm as well. “I missed you, Vic. And I'm happy that you’re happy and you have someone besides me looking out for you now.” That last part was said with a faint smirk, as if Demi had ever had to truly look out for Vic. More often than not it was the other way around. "I missed you a hell of a lot." Vic placed his free hand on top of hers, squeezing it in a way he hoped was reassuring. It'd been a real long time since she'd been home, and he planned to make sure that she never had that kind of absence again. Of course, that man of hers complicated things, but Vic could only hope that if she had to leave the Dog Park again, it'd be for a place that didn't specifically forbid them from seeing each other. "So I guess it's a good thing you're here now so we can stop missing each other. The other shit will get figured out before you know it." Demi nodded in agreement. “It's a damn good thing we can stop missing each other now,” her smiled faltered only a little at the other stuff, the complicated portions of her life and her absence from Isaac. Vic was right, or at least she had to hope he was right, the other stuff would get figured out eventually. “It always does, doesn't it?” She tried to keep an upbeat tone, focusing on the positive of Vic’s words and not all the questions, worries, and thoughts that loomed large in her mind. |