2609/Family Matters

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Family Matters
Date of Scene: 27 September 2017
Location: Gotham City
Synopsis: Summary needed
Cast of Characters: Karrin Murphy, Harry Dresden




Karrin Murphy has posed:
It was late, but Karrin would be home even later. She was still pulling a lot of grave yard shifts after being off so long, working her way back into the good graces of people in the department. Well, as good a graces as anyone in SI can get. So, she'd probably not be home for a while longer when Harry finally comes in the door. He'll also get the feeling that, well, something has changed. The apartment is in normal shape, Mouse attacking his legs as ever, but then there is a faint whimper from the big dog's throat. A glance back at the coffee table where a lovely little package wrapped in what looks like gossamer rests. It's all too elegant. Too out of place. Too surreal for his dark apartment. And there is a winding tag on the edge that says in beautiful calligraphy: HARRY.

Harry Dresden has posed:
Entering the apartment is something of a ritual in and of itself, one so practiced that is has become rote. Disarm the wards, unlock the door, open door, close door, lock door, rearm wards, hang coat next to door on rack along with basting rod and staff. Boring ritual is boring, but at least it provides some comfort knowing that his place is secure.

Which is why when he looks to the coffee table and sees the package he stops dead in his tracks.

"Karrin...?" he asks, calling out to the apartment as a whole. '...Are you home? What did you get me?" But he knows Karrin, gossamer packaging just isn't her style. It reeks of fae.

Karrin Murphy has posed:
No answer. Nothing but Mouse idly wagging his tail, waiting for attention but also curious and worried in that entirely too smart way of his. So he sits next to the coffee table, tail brushing at one of the legs, and watches.

The package, on the outside, has no spells or any trap that Harry can sense laid into the wrapping. It seems very much to simply be a package. It's waiting to be opened. When he pulls back the gossamer layers across the box, inside he will find a simple crystal dish with an elegant outcropping right in the middle -- A ring holder in the traditional, old style. A piece of parchment is wrapped around the part meant for the ring. Unrolled, an elegant script that looks uncomfortably like his god mother's hand lays before him. It's a simple note: "Harry: It has not gone unnoticed that you have taken up wit this mortal woman. Perhaps best you make this pact between you and she honest, before others decide they would wish her in their control. Such a creature is ever so tempting, you must understand. And ever so easily claimed." No signature. One is probably not needed.

Harry Dresden has posed:
"Hells bells." exclaims Harry as he makes his way over to the coffee table, pausing a moment to ruffle Mouse's head and scratch him behind the ears briefly. "I shouldn't open this, should I?" he says to the dog as he already starts to tear at the paper. "I have a bad feeling about this..."

As soon as the package is opened, Harry arches a brow and reaches for the little note. A gasping sound which is part scream and part guffaw escapes his throat causing Mouse to whimper a bit at the noise. "Oh you have got to be fucking with me... Karrin?" he calls again, then looks to the table by the door where she keeps her badge if she is home.

Karrin Murphy has posed:
But there is no response. Karrin's badge isn't in it's place. She's not yet home. Mouse leans into the touch on his ears and gives another little whimper, pressing close to Harry's legs, only to jump back at the sound the tall man makes. Mouse huffs in turn, head tilting to the side as he leans up, trying to sniff at the paper and the delicate crystal bowl.

It's only about a minute or two later that the careful feeling of the wards being passed and the sound of Karrin's key in the lock can be heard above. At least she has halfway decent timing.

Harry Dresden has posed:
Continuing to eye the bowl, Harry just shakes his head and mutters a string of curses under his breath. "This isn't funny Lea..." he says to the air, no doubt in his mind that she can hear him. In fact, he leans over the glass just in case she has placed a listening spell on it he can't detect and says it again, adding "If I want to ask her to marry me, I will on my own damn schedule. Not yours."

Which is of course what Karrin is likely to walk in seeing. Harry, leaning over the coffee table yelling into a glass ring holder spouting off about marriage. Such a glamorous life he leads.

Karrin Murphy has posed:
To say that is the last thing she expected to see coming in the apartment would be putting it mildly. Demons trying to burn down the place? Sure! Harry's naked butt? On occasion! A perfectly normal Harry scolding a glass bowl about marriage? Karrin just blinks, pausing at the bottom of the stairs as she stares at him warily.

Marriage. What a dangerous word.

"...Should...I come back? Am I interrupting a private moment between you and... your... jewelry holder?" She dead pans quietly, trying not to look as amused as she feels. Better amused than terrified, because she swears she heard that M word and that is enough to make her dash right back up the stairs.

Harry Dresden has posed:
Harry Dresden glances over to Karrin and tosses up his hands. "OH, of COURSE you come in right then. Like this isn't awkward enough as it is."

He shakes his head and walks over to Karrin with the note in hand, offering it over to her to read. "I think my godmother is fucking with me....us....again. I'm of a mind to take a hammer to that thing."

Karrin Murphy has posed:
The blonde stares at him for a skeptical moment, not quite taking the note yet, "I could go outside and pretend nothing happened? Come back in five minutes?" But the damage is done now. She then plucks that note from his fingertips and pulls the curling paper open. She reads it in silence for far too many seconds, going over it two or three times, trying to keep her blood pressure slightly under wraps. "...that... Bitch. That crazy... fucking... Bitch..." Karrin half growls, stakling straight for the coffee table and the crystal bowl. She reaches for it, not even thinking, because it looks like a very nice thing to shatter, "Let me." She mutters and, unless he stops her in a split second, she's going to grab the thing.

Harry Dresden has posed:
Harry Dresden smirks, shaking his head and taking the note to look at it again. "Yeah, I know. I don't know what her play here is. I already made that deal with her to get things square between us, so why all of a sudden is she trying to meddle into things now?"

Lost in his own thought for a moment, he doesn't see Karrin moving for the bowl until it might be to late. As she reaches for the thing, Harry's eyes widen and he shouts out a "No! Wait!" as he lunges for her.

Karrin Murphy has posed:
The moment Karrin picks it up, something happens. What? It's not immediately apparent. She's not falling head over heels for him, professing her undying love or begging for marriage. But there is that faint shift in the air around them, the feeling of the universe itself, that something vital has changed. A new path has been chosen and there may very well be no going back. Karrin, however, doesn't feel it. She stares at the bowl in her hand, head tilted, then looks back up to him. "...What? It's a cheap Swaroski crystal bowl, Dresden. I can go shatter it outside, if you prefer?"

Harry Dresden has posed:
To late. Harry just looks at Karrin and then to the bowl in her hand. "Fuck." he utters quietly, looking around the room and expecting Lea to show up with that insane cackle she has to gloat about whatever it is she just managed to pull.

"No, Karrin. You.." he sighs, shaking his head. "You just accepted something from one of the fae. From the Leanansidhe." He looks back to the note, checking both sides of it to see if anything has changed since the bowl was taken. "I don't know what it means...yet...but knowing Lea..." He reaches out a hand to take the bowl from Karin, "...it is going to be interesting to say the very least."

Karrin Murphy has posed:
For a heartbeat or two, Karrin looks like she's not going to take it seriously. ANd that she really wants to smash the bowl. But then she actually looks into Harry's eyes, seeing the read worry there, and she watches him stalk across the room looking for something. "...Shit. Shit. I...I just picked it up. I didn't accept a damn thing, Harry. I didn't agree to this. I'm not letting some bully of a fae bitch con us into marrying each other. Fuck... I... I fuck that up enough. Not again. We're good like we are. Take it back. Return to sender. How... how do we fix this??" Karrin is now staring at the bowl in her hand like it's got the plague, but she also hasn't yet set it down.

Harry Dresden has posed:
Harry Dresden sighs, taking the bowl from Karrin. Damage has ben done, right? What more can happen if he takes it from her. "I don't know, Karrin. Not until Lea decides to let me know what her 'gift' is and what the price for it is."

He lifts his free hand to brush the hair away from Karrin's face, tucking a lock of stray hair behind her ear and smiles. "It'll be ok. I promise. One way or another, we will get through this. Hell, we have been through worse, haven't we?"

Karrin Murphy has posed:
"Yeah...I certainly have. And it was called my first marriage. I... That's just not something we should put on the table. No matter what that woman thinks." Karrin states flatly, though it takes her a moment to relenquish the bowl to him. Or maybe that's his mind playing tricks on him. Or Karrin just being in shock over it all. Surely the bowl doesn't want to stay with them, it can't have a controlling mind of it's own, right? Karrin breathes out slowly and turns her head, pressing a kiss into the base of his palm and inhaling deeply of his skin's scent. "...why does she even care? Isn't marriage a... mortal thing? For courts and taxes and the like?"

Harry Dresden has posed:
"I have no idea." says Harry as he looks down at the little glass bowl. He sets it down on the table and sighs, running his fingers through his hair as he stares at it for a moment. "Maybe it's 'revenge' for her loosing her grip on me? Maybe she thinks you took her prize away from her? Maybe she is binding us together because she actually does care about me in her own twisted way and wants to make sure you don't leave? I don't have the answers, and I won't until she decides to show herself and let me know. The only thing about marriage a Far would care about is that it is a pact. It's not like they believe in love or monogamy."

Karrin Murphy has posed:
All of this terrifies Karrin for every reason it shouldn't. Not the fae part, the controlling godmother part, the threat part. It's the marriage part. But then, Harry probably knew that as well. She listens to him quiet, pale eyes studying his handsome features as he lays out the reality of the situation which basically involves waiting and seeing. She hated waiting. Karrin sighs quietly, "...Look. I... love you. That's all that matters to me and she can go marry herself and shove that bowl where the sun doesn't shine, so... we'll figure it out. But fuck if we're bending to her whims. I'm here because of YOU. Not her." Karrin steps up to him, pulling him down into a deep, immediate, almost too insistent kiss. She then lets go after a moment, "I...also need to shower. It was a long shift."

Harry Dresden has posed:
"I know all that, Karrin." Harry says, after the kiss. "I love you too, and I don't know what her game is..but we will handle it like we have handled everything else life has thrown at us. Together." He smiles softly, patting Karrin light on the rear to usher her towards the bedroom, and shower. "How about I wash your back for you, help take your mind of of it for a little while. I promise I won't be bending the knee to you anytime soon, unless we decided that is what we want to happen."

Karrin Murphy has posed:
That last offer gets him a look over her shoulder which is all flirtation, "Don't tempt me..." And Karrin winks to follow it, before leading the way towards the shower.