26 - [Voice // Filtered to friends + Open Spam]

[whateverthemess]

[A click, a long pause, and then a voice that sounds tired but otherwise collected.]

I'm back. [Silence that goes on for several beats too long, as she tries to find something else to say, before the transmission clicks off.]

[Open Spam]

[Murphy opens her door immediately after making the transmission, despite the fact that at least one of her

Comments

[painhumbles]

[To his credit, Gabriel actually waits a full fifteen minutes before showing up, mostly because he's waiting to never hear the end of it from Cissie and.... Well, he sure as hell doesn't wanna look overeager or something. Heh.

Either way, some fifteen minutes later, Gabriel's leaning against the wall beside the open door, arms crossed over his chest and his ankles crossed, the picture of nonchalance. Well, strained, forced nonchalance, but nonchalance all the same. After all, he really didn't think she was coming back.]

Sorry, Elvira. Love your work, but, uh... This is Karrin Murphy's room, so I'm gonna have to ask you to leave.

[whateverthemess]

[The cat jumps down off the couch. He comes over to walk a circle around Gabriel, flicks his tail in apparent disdain, and trots off into another part of the cabin-house.

Murphy looks up from the tea. It's weird, a little, seeing him standing there like a kid caught coming home late with pot in his pockets. She almost smiles.]

Five to ten washes, she said. Remind me never to agree to quick and dirty undercover jobs again.

[painhumbles]

[Gabriel glares at the cat. Yeah, he can judge too, furface. When did Murphy decide to get a cat anyway?]

Not unless I'm invited.

[He kicks off the wall and starts walking towards her- slowly, like somehow her being gone for a couple of weeks has changed things. It wasn't like she hadn't left before... She never announced it then though. And... He also didn't kiss her. And it's also a show of that remarkable restraint he sometimes has that he isn't mentioning that.]

I guess I owe Cissie twenty bucks.

[whateverthemess]

An apology too, I'm guessing? [She bobs the tea bag in her glass, frowning down at its contents. Murphy glances at him. There's still that tension, the knowledge of something deep and immeasurably powerful underneath very plain-looking skin.

She remembers what it feels like to wield that kind of power.] How've you been? ...How long has been?

[goodgrasshopper]

[Molly gets the message and makes a beeline for Murphy's cabin, bringing Mouse along with her. The big guy'll want to say welcome back, too.

When she gets there, though, she stops in her tracks and staaaares. Murphy's looking like she's kind of hurting. And the hair.]

...I would have done a better job on your hair than that.

[whateverthemess]

[She gives a tiny, amused snort, fumbling the mug a bit as she picks it up one-handed.] I'm sure you would have. I needed a cover in an hour. We had to work fast.

[She stops, looking Molly over. The fact that she doesn't know about the hair - or look like she's helped lead a campaign against a vampire army in the past week - answers at least one of the questions Murphy's had on her mind.] How's it been?

[She'll get to asking how Molly's been in a minute.]

[goodgrasshopper]

[Molly is just going to stare at you for a moment, Murphy.] You show up after a month beat all to Hell, with a bad dye job, and Mister in tow, and you want to know how it's been here?

[She throws up her hands.] Fine. My inmate is a complete bitch who tortures people for fun and profit. She's in Zero right now. Harry vanished for a while and came back. We went to Salem. What about you?

[whateverthemess]

I went to a Halloween party and got involved in a brawl. [If she sounds entirely too innocent...

It's because she is.]

[notarrowette]

[Hi there, Murphy, have another blonde girl at your door, once she finally checks her journal. Cissie spent maybe ten seconds debating between replying or just showing up, and hey, look what won.

She knocks on the door frame, but stops in the doorway in surprise. This is not the room she remembers, or the Murphy she remembers, either, and that's alarming.] ...Hey. ...Did you lose a bet or something?

[whateverthemess]

Or something. [Murphy grins at her, both warm and guarded. Mister stretches luxuriously and hops off the couch to body-check Cissie's ankles.]

Oh - Cissie, Mister. He's all right wandering probably, but could you close the door anyway? I'd have a hard time explaining that I lost Dresden's cat on an interdimensional prison ship.

[notarrowette]

[Cissie gives a little grunt at the impressive force of that body-check, and grins down at the extremely large cat. She nudges him further into the room and shuts the door behind her, leaning over to pet him properly for a minute.]

Mister, huh? Harry's got creative names for his extremely large pets.

[Straightening, she crosses the room to approach Murphy, feeling weirdly hesitant. Maybe Gabriel's pessimism got under her skin a little more than she realized.]

...Here's a stupid question, but--are you all right?

[whateverthemess]

Yeah. [She says it like it's a given, or it should be.] Except for the crappy dyejob. You want something to drink?