316/The morning after

The morning after
Date of Scene:	08 May 2017
Location:	Gotham City
Synopsis:	Summary needed
Cast of Characters:	Karrin Murphy, Harry Dresden

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Karrin Murphy has posed:
Sleep wasn't really an easy thing for either of them. Even with the charms, they both had their own monster completely free of whatever mess Harry's godmother had been slipping into their dreams. But tucked into a safe place, near someone who was warm, familiar, and smelled strangely like home, Karrin had the best night of sleep she'd managed in ages. Even if she wasn't really made to be sleeping on a couch any more, and her back would be complaining tomorrow. It was worth it. Still half asleep, she instinctively curls in a bit closer against his neck, where she's drapped half across him still. Somewhere in the night, they'd both gone vertical, he stretched out haphazardly on the couch and she curled in against his side.

A still mostly asleep smile crosses her lips, head burying in against his shoulder, away from the dim light that basement window allows to spill in the room. She gives a little sound of a grow as a lawn mower starts up somewhere over their heads, protesting in hopes it will shut off, but it won't considering it's not actually a lawn mower but the purr of Mister, who has made his way back and is perched above them on the couch, tail swishing against both their heads. Someone is hungry and only being semi-subtle about it.

Harry Dresden has posed:
The couch wasn't meant to sleep on, this is true. Even less so for someone six foot nine...and then to add a second person to the mix, even if she is five foot nothing? It's a miracle they stayed on the couch at all. The swish, swish, swish of Mister's tail on his head makes Harry bat at the cat while he is still half-asleep. A low mumble escapes his lips, "Go away." but it is promptly replied to with a meow and a bat with a paw. Harry bats at the cat again, and tries to snuggle in closer to Murphy with an audible grumble.

"I don't want to get up, Murph." says Harry quietly, an arm instinctively pulling her in a bit closer. "If I get up this ends, and I am not sure I am ready to let it...whatever this is, anyway. I don't want to read anything into it that isn't there." He half opens his eyes, and then closes them again to block his eyes from the light. "I could spend the day just laying here."

Karrin Murphy has posed:
There was no denying something had changed. Harry had told her *everything*. Karrin felt like she'd seen every corner of his soul. Hell, she even spilled a few things herself. The divorce. Her family. Her damn sister. They fell asleep like this and they knew damned well what they were doing when they did it. But there was still that line drawn -- falling asleep on the couch, not moving to the bed. Pretending that they just passed out like this, that it probably meant nothing... A amall moan of protest escapes her throat, but she doesn't scramble and pull away like that first morning in her bed. She presses closer as his arm pulled her tighter.

It felt *good*.

This... was going to be a problem. But for the moment, Karrin enjoyed it. The faint sound of his heart against her ear, the gentle motion of his breath, his lanky arm around her compact frame. She lets her leg settle between his. "...if I open my eyes... I'm gonna have to move and we're gonna have to go back to pretending this... didn't happen... and I don't really think I want to do that either." Karrin mutters half asleep against his throat. Only to be thwacked in the head by Mister's tail again. "...Dammit, Mister." She half growls.

Harry Dresden has posed:
"We can just stay here..." says the wizard, "Keep our eyes closed for as long as possible, but sooner or later we are going to have to face the day." Harry sighs softly, slipping his other arm around her to clasps his hands at the small of her back, "If I don't feed him eventually, he will resort to laying his 30 pounds right on my bladder. I wish I could get Bob to feed him."

"Like I would...i'm still under the table. You left me here, Harry! After all I've done.."

"Shut up, Bob."

Harry cracks his eyes half open again, "Do we have to pretend this didn't happen Karrin? It's not like we ended up...you know."

"Not for my lack of trying!" the skull quips, but Harry ignores.

"All we did was end up falling asleep, human contact. Nothing we have to feel guilty about."

Karrin Murphy has posed:
"...probably best nothing happened. I don't think I could move in here, Harry. I'd murder your roommates." Karrin rasps out, though good naturedly, especially as she listens to that thrumming purr above them. While they're complaining about Mister, her one hand does reach up, between her nose and his chin, so she can get to the heavily furred gray side of the big gray cat and bury her fingertips into a soothing, tender scratch. She liked the beast, for all the complaints. And it was a momentary distraction from actually deciding what to do about the situation between them.

"...Nothing too feel guilty, if... if I remember this happened... I might want to do it again. That's... a dangerous road to walk." Karrin finally admits. She still hasn't budged from his side, though, her hips fitting nicely against his side, leg over his hips, calf between his thighs. She'd managed to find just the way to tuck herself against him over the night as he sprawled over the too-small couch.

Harry Dresden has posed:
"Woah, woah, woah...slow down Tex. Nobody said anything about moving in." Harry says with a chuckle, shaking his head ever so slightly. "I mean, I have my bachelor pad just how I like it, and you would come in with your doilies and pink ruffles..." His mouth breaks out into a grin, shifting slightly to be able to look down at her face, "Just be glad I don't have a dog. I mean, Mister takes up enough room as it is."

He is quiet for a moment, thinking about what Karrin has said, an almost imperceptible turn of his lips from jovial to disappointment before they settle on neutral. "If. If you remember. What are you saying, Karrin? Are you asking me to remove you memories? I can't do that, it is a violation against the laws of magic. But I am sure I can find someone not bound my the laws if that is what you really want." He sighs, releasing one of his hands from her back and lifting it to run his fingers through his hair. "They may even be able to remove the memories of the soul gaze from you."

Karrin Murphy has posed:
"Shit, Harry..." The moment she hears that disappointment in his voice, and he's actually talking about removing memories, Karrin picks up her head enough she can look down into his eyes. Her hand comes back to rest against his chest, but she's not pulling away. She just looks at him. "I didn't mean it like that. Damn... I was teasing. Mostly. I... remember. I want to remember. I... I wouldn't trade last night for the world and it means... Everything that you trust me like that." Karrin is about to say more, studying his eyes now with the freedom they never had before, but something in her still stops. There is still fear. Not of him, but of opening herself up more. Of hoping too much. Diving in too deeply. Her hand presses a bit tighter into his chest.

"I... I'm certainly not moving in. No... but I'm not going anywhere either." She breathes out, softer than before. Almost a promise. Then she tiredly glares at Mister over his head, "...hey, Mister. Can you, like... give us thirty more minutes? As a favor?" And like the cat actually understands, he thumps down off the couch and strides confidently away into the other room, leaving them in blessed silence once more. Karrin blinks, "I...didn't think that'd work." But she's not complaining. She then sinks herself back down against him, finding that nestled spot once more. A slow smile creeps across her face. "...30 more minutes. Then we'll worry about it." She breathes out against his neck.

Harry Dresden has posed:
"It's not like I would blame you, Murph. Shit got real last night. It's enough to make most people think they are loosing their grip on sanity, so who could blame you if you just wanted to go back to blissful ignorance?" Harry says softly as he finds her eyes with his, "But I'm glad. It's nice to be able to talk to you about it all. To look you in the eyes and actually talk to you. I think it might kill me if I had to try and take it all back." Harry just stares into her eyes for a quiet moment, his head moving a minute distance towards hers, but stopping himself just before she lowers her head back down.

Once her head lowers, he lets out a little sigh of relief? Regret? "Right." he says, clearing his throat as she nestles back down against him, "Thirty minutes. Because in thirty minutes, this will be even easier to deal with."