InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "Me wo tojite NIGHT GROWING"

Katherine Athena (oceantoocean) wrote in we_float,
@ 2010-05-21 22:37:00

Entry tags:

character: alistair icenhour, character: katherine athena, plot: sympathy for the devil

Who: Alistair Icenhour and Katherine Athena.
What: Conversations and further strategy.
When: Saturday, May 22, 2096
Where: Waiting for the Interurban, Fremont, Seattle
Status: Closed; in progress

"Well." Katherine said as she came to a full stop in front of the four statues. "That's something, isn't it?" Her arms, still clutching the notes from a brief meeting with the mayor, pressed her notebook up against her chest without even thinking about it. To protect her heart.

"Waiting for the Interurban" was what someone had titled the work of public art so many years ago that even Katherine, who studied her city's history carefully, knew little about it. It had become an institution--four stone figures standing, on which the public draped clothing and changed outfits at will. However the figures had changed. Someone had sewn on extra limbs into some of the outfits, added lumps of stone to the heads... in short, they were jokers.

"You don't have to stare," a teenage girl stopped and told them, plucking a headphone out of her ear for a moment. "It's been like that since Wednesday." She snapped a piece of gum and rolled her eyes. "I think they shoulda added something more dramatic. Like maybe the Troll." Before Katherine could get more words out of her mouth, the girl had stepped back on a board and let the air hover her down the street.

"Wednesday," Katherine repeated, stepping a little closer.

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oceantoocean
2010-05-29 04:34 pm UTC (link)

Katherine took the knife from the drawer, spreading the peanut butter heavy on the bread as she spoke. It was something she never ate in public, a reminder of the same childhood she'd been trained to forget.

"As I said, I was riding my bike down this hill all the kids used to call Big Sue." She smiled a little. "I don't know why we called it that." Setting the knife on the counter, she took a bite of the sandwich, swallowing it before continuing.

"I was going fast. I had this bet with myself that if I pedaled as hard as I could going down the hill, I'd be able to go three blocks without pedaling afterwards. It was silly kid stuff." Her thumb crushed the bread without realizing, tiny bits of peanut butter squeezing from the hole. "I didn't count on the car."

"It was one of those new stealth models--the kind they were making back then that they recalled because no one could hear them coming. It hit me and the bike and threw us both to the side of the road. All I remember at first is the crunch." Katherine stared down at the sandwich in her hand, then walked over and threw it in the trash. She wasn't hungry any longer. "I looked at my arm in the grass and it was... twisted and I hurt and that goddamn black car--it just left. There was no one else there and I got scared."

"Then I felt it. My chest started to hurt and all of my muscles began to tear and I was bleeding all over the place." She bit her lip. "I couldn't take off my coat because my arm was broken and I was afraid to move my other arm because that was the side that my chest hurt on but I didn't want to bleed to death. I started crying and then, screaming, but no one came. The car didn't turn around and then... it started to happen. My heart began to push itself out of its chest." Katherine turned away. "I don't think you want the gory details."

"When my father finally found me, because it was after dark by then, he said that it was a good thing no one else had come across me. But when you're nine, you don't think like that. You don't. All that I remembered was that no one came."

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theseainsideme
2010-05-29 08:01 pm UTC (link)

Alistair's only response was to raise an eyebrow when she mentioned her heart pushing out of her chest.

But the story was incredibly familiar. So familiar, in fact, that it almost made him want to chuckle. He was sure that it was the sort of thing that happened to thousands of kids - an accident and latency becomes a thing of the past - but it was different hearing it from another's mouth.

"That sounds... incredibly painful." Mentally and physically he thought as he walked over to the counter and got himself a glass from the cabinet he'd spied Katherine retrieve from countless times. "If I can ask," Alistair started and paused. "I realize that this may make you the ultimate political cliche but... you don't have a heart then?" Alistair concluded with cautious skepticism.

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	oceantoocean 2010-05-29 10:25 pm UTC (link)
	"Oh, I have one," she said, not acknowledging his comment about pain. What good did it do now, to discuss how it had felt? "It's on the outside." Katherine folded her arms across her abdomen, watching him. "I'd offer to show you but I'm told that it's horrific." Her mouth quirked slightly as she waited for another question. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	theseainsideme 2010-05-29 10:32 pm UTC (link)
	His head tilted slightly, glass still in hand, his eyes unavoidably drawn to her chest. A warm heart thrumming under fabric. It certainly answered his question. Burt had to know about this. "They can't put it back in?" he asked as his eyes finally drifted over to the tap. He filled up his water glass and took a sip. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

oceantoocean
2010-05-29 10:44 pm UTC (link)

"No, it's hardened over. It... doesn't look like a normal heart any longer." Katherine leaned against the wall, inhaling slowly. "But you understand why I can't tell anyone."

Her eyes slipped away from Alistair's face. "My parents told me that it wasn't possible for me to live a normal life. I suppose that I haven't, in the end, but at least, I can say that I've accomplished a few things." She smiled slightly, then walked back towards the living room, not knowing what else to say.

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theseainsideme
2010-05-29 11:06 pm UTC (link)

Alistair followed her after a moment, at a leisurely pace. He was stalling for time, for something to say. He couldn't say that it was alright, because it wasn't. She knew it wasn't. Not in this day and age. But there was the impetus to say something comforting. He took a seat when he got back into living room, the same one he'd been in when she told him.

There was a delay between his mouth opening and the words actually coming out.

"I wish I had something comforting to say," Alistair finally admitted. "It's a little easier with Xaviera."

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oceantoocean
2010-05-29 11:11 pm UTC (link)

"Oh, Alistair," Katherine laughed. "If it was just being- being this." Her hand gently rested next to her heart, pressing down so that the fabric pulled against it, showing the outline of it for the first time that he'd seen it. "You don't need to comfort me. There are far worse things in my life, in anyone's life, than having a joker."

She sank down next to him, curling into the couch for a moment. "I didn't tell you because I expected you to act differently. Will this be a problem?"

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	theseainsideme 2010-05-29 11:15 pm UTC (link)
	The outline was larger than he thought it'd be; his eyes automatically snapped to it, then away as he turned his attention back to Katherine and not simply Katherine's Heart. "How did you expect me to act?" he asked. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

oceantoocean
2010-05-29 11:19 pm UTC (link)

"Impersonally, I suppose. Take it as another unpleasant fact and file it away until it comes to cause problems." Katherine leaned over her knees, her heart pressing against one so that the beating reverberated into her skin. "I'm not sure. Bart knew in college but it's never been something that he was expected to deal with, so his reaction wasn't much more than repulsed."

Her chin rested on her knee as she said it, the words not loud at all in the heavy silence. "Or perhaps I expected something more. I'm not sure. It's easiest to assume the worst, of something like this."

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	theseainsideme 2010-05-29 11:27 pm UTC (link)
	He nodded quietly. "I suppose so. That's fair." Fair mainly because he expected her to act much the same in regards to him. He wasn't sure now. "I mean, I'm sure my evening is going to be spent figuring out just how to solve the problems that will undoubtedly arise, but," he replied with a wan grin, trailing off into his water glass. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

oceantoocean
2010-05-29 11:30 pm UTC (link)

"I think you can set those aside for now. If my joker's ever discovered, there won't be a presidency." Katherine's tone was light but still serious. "Don't worry about me. You have more important things to think about."

Xaviera, was what she meant. And Amelia, for that matter, even if she wasn't entirely sure that Alistair considered his former partner a subject for such worry.

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theseainsideme
2010-05-29 11:39 pm UTC (link)

He leaned back on the couch. "I have to worry about you. That's what you pay me for," Alistair replied gently. "Just because there won't be a presidency doesn't mean that there won't be issues for your current position, Senator."

He finished the glass, feeling that barely-perceptible sense of clarity that being in hydrostatic balance seemed to create. "Does Ms. Wasserbach know?" he inquired.

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	oceantoocean 2010-05-29 11:44 pm UTC (link)
	She smiled at that. "No. You, me. Bart. My parents. That's it. I'm not even sure that Rafe knows." Katherine didn't go as far as to mention that, if Rafe had known, it would have been sold to the papers long ago. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	theseainsideme 2010-05-29 11:45 pm UTC (link)
	Alistair gave her a look. "Doctors?" he asked. Someone had to have fixed her broken arm, not to mention her obstetrician. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

oceantoocean
2010-05-29 11:49 pm UTC (link)

"Yes, sorry. Our family doctor, Milo Brentner. He passed the practice to his son, Nathaniel, who treats me now." Katherine considered it, then said, "There may be a nurse or two from my childhood but I think that they've all passed away. It's never come up."

Glancing back up at Alistair, she said, "It's entirely possible that, if it did, however, Dad handled it himself."

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	theseainsideme 2010-05-29 11:57 pm UTC (link)
	Alistair nodded quietly, thoughtfully; it matched the preoccupied look about him. "You should have married a doctor," he said, more a poke at himself than at her. It had come in handy. Extreme handiness. "Thank you for telling me. Finally." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	oceantoocean 2010-05-30 12:08 am UTC (link)
	"Oh, I don't know about that," Katherine smiled. "You're not likely to thank me later." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	theseainsideme 2010-05-30 12:16 am UTC (link)
	"Then I guess it's good I'm doing it now, huh?" Alistair shot back with a wry grin. It fell. "You know that forming this group of yours... it's not going to do anything to your credibility as being Naturally-born. I need to know if this is the endgame. You outing yourself publicly." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	oceantoocean 2010-05-30 12:18 am UTC (link)
	"That's always been the endgame," she answered. "It's just that, before now, I'd always thought that I was going to be the only player." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	theseainsideme 2010-05-30 12:25 am UTC (link)
	"You can't seriously think you've drafted a real power player in the bunch you selected. Skilled power-wise, maybe, but political?" (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	oceantoocean 2010-05-30 12:27 am UTC (link)
	"I think I drafted one a few years back." Katherine sat up, her gaze meeting his. "Or was I wrong?" (Reply to this) (Parent)

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