Playing House (Porter) - Alterations While U Wait

She snorted.

"Yeah. But I'm not going to credit a man who stakes the Harpy in her office on camera in Elysium with much brains."

"Granted. Although if his initial act was one of passion, he may have regained his senses since."

She shrugged.

"Maybe. Heard stuff about him, though. He's pretty headstrong. And a true Cleopatra."

"It is that brash reputation which worries me. I should like to find him penitent, or licking his wounds. Yet I fear we may find him planning a comeuppance."

She nods.

"I'm fully prepped to put him into the ground for a few years."

"It's a shame, really. We could use the numbers. I can't help but wonder what foundation drove him to something so bizarre."

She shrugs.

"Some are just bad apples. But we do have a good foundation for a very good Clan here."

"Safety and prosperity requires cooperation, if not unity. True for both the family and the domain. We've no room for bad apples."

She nodded.

"Thus being prepped to put him into the ground for a few years."

"Whether he emerges with some decorum will be a matter of debate."

She smiles.

"Yeah, probably. But while I will defend any clan mate from the outside, internal matters are family matters. And this has become one."

"I concur. However it is resolved, this situation will be an example - hopefully a good one - for all others."

She nodded.

"It will be good for the ones who don't understand. I may be one of the youngest here, but Christ people."

She shakes her head.

"Age tempers neither selfishness nor stupidity, I'm afraid."

She nods.

"And I was taught well. Herding the other Ghouls in Seattle. Keeping them from blowing things up was hard."

"The more I hear about Seattle, the stranger it sounds. It may as well be a far-off locale in a fairy-story for as much as it seems to resemble my world."

She laughed.

"Pretty much. It's a wonder I turned out so well. It's a crazy place, and a death trap. Just don't go there."

"I've no need to be anywhere but here."

She smiled.

"Good. Cause I don't want to be very far from you."

His tone is matter-of-fact. "I will not abandon you, Raz0r. You need not fear such a thing. And Port St. Lucie is not Seattle, thank heaven. We will set things right here."

She hugged him tightly.

"I think I might be going back on my vow to myself."

"One must never forget a vow."

"Unless it was something angsty like 'never trust anyone again' or 'do not dare to hope' or something like that."

She chuckled.

"In hindsight, with you in my life, it was pretty silly. When Nobody was killed, I promised myself I would never love again."

"A promise is a contract. You hold both ends of that contract, and can relieve yourself of its burden at any time."

She looks up at him.

"It scares me. It terrifies me to think of someone using my feelings for you against me."