fandomhigh | Umbridge High School Building, Saturday Evening

Umbridge High School Building, Saturday Evening

There were some clouds hanging around the spires of Umbridge High School, but not enough; there was an overlaying sense that there shouldn't be as much sunlight shining down on it as there was.

It was quiet. Kind of. There was tension in the air, a wound-up strung-up thing that ensnared the school. Somehow it seemed as if even the birds didn't want to touch down on the building itself, and the gates seemed to fold into themselves, even if they weren't quite shut.

And all that on a weekend, too.

[[ ~~wait for the~~ ocd up! ]]

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That...wasn't quite what Cara had expected.

"Bo," she said, luckily her voice took on a more commanding tone than an incredulous one. "What are you doing?"

She'd run interference for a lot of the island's inhabitants before, but gremlins were a new one.

It took all the sanity Bo had left, which was not a lot, to avoid just spreading her arms wider and replying by demonstrating what she was doing on Cara firsthand.

"My job. They're getting away, and these things are helping them!"

Sorry, gremlin dressed in a pirate hat and eyepatch. She did use you to demonstrate.

"So are you," Cara snapped in a tone remarkably similar to the one used with trainee Mord'Sith who were being unbelievably stupid. "By chasing gremlins instead organising the capture of the escaped prisoners."

Which Cara didn't want, but any excuse to get Bo far away from other people was a good one right now.

Cara had a point -- not that Bo was in any state to acknowledge that.

Also, very tight clothes, very nice hips, and a hell of a lot more chi than a band of two-foot tall ...whatever the gremlins were -- not that Bo was supposed to acknowledge that in her co-workers.

The combination was enough to get her to pause, at least; the stronger among the gremlins tumbled away from her hold and scrambled for the air vents.

"I should--" Something. "Too many. Too hard to track the right ones." That. One of the few disadvantages of using her own power instead of the security cameras.

"Which is why we need to get to your office," Cara said, her tone softer, more inviting. "So we can find out where they went."

And where there was privacy and a lockable door.

Bo closed her eyes for a moment to sort out the conflicting instincts from the hum and crackle of power -- cutting off said hum and crackle. Though it still played across her own body in waves of heat and gold, the last bound gremlins fell away, lying where they hit or running off depending on how much she'd already taken.

"Okay, my office. Yes." Eyes still so blue they were almost white when they opened again.

"I'll lead the way," Cara told her, partly so that if they came across another person she'd be between them and Bo and partly because the view might keep her distracted.

JUST A LITTLE BIT, YES.

Not fair, she thought as she silently followed.

Bo wasn't supposed to have thoughts like that, of course. She wasn't supposed to think anything about the boss' rules was unfair, but especially not those things that kept her from being the wrong kind of monster. The bad kind.

The more she drank, though, the more her own power ruled her, and the less the Imperio did. Today in Detention had almost tipped the balance.

Edited 2012-07-28 21:28 (UTC)

Moving as fast as she could, without actually looking like she was hurrying, Cara put an extra sway in her step.

Luckily, they made it to the office without stumbling across any poor unfortunates.

Cara held the door open for Bo. "After you."

"No, after--" What pit of forgotten hell had the ability to flirt risen up from? Bo frowned and shook her head, slipping past Cara and into the security office. "Never mind. Cameras. I need to check..."

Shutting the door behind them, Cara surreptitiously locked it, before very deliberately stepping into Bo's personal space and reaching up to stroke her cheek. "No, you don't."

"I do--" That was nice.

Wait. No, it wasn't. That was wrong.

"What're you doing?" Cara's initial greeting echoed unconsciously from Bo's lips.

In a way Bo was right, just not for the reasons she thought she was.

"Giving you what you want," Cara murmured, leaning into to kiss her.

"Th--" --at's not what I want, Bo started to say, but lying was wrong too, and besides, there was no room to say it, against warm lips and the need of her own hands to find someplace to rest, to squeeze, behind all that leather.

Was she supposed to be stopping this? That was her job.

But that meant doing... what she was already doing. Just... it wasn't usually -- wasn't ever -- brought to her willingly. Wasn't given, certainly wasn't murmured.

She was supposed to take. So why didn't she want to? Wrong, wrong, wrong (right) wrong.

"No!" Bo pulled back, just far enough to stare dazedly, just long enough to remember. Take. Take, with her hand darting to Cara's chin, eyes trying to lock. Lips trying to lock, again, but the right way.

Whatever that was.

There was a ...tugging in Cara's gut, similar to and at the same time completely different to how it giving the Breath of Life, Cara opened her mouth letting a wisp of something move past her lips, as her free hand moved toward her agiel.

But there was also a not-exactly-buzz where the amulet pressed against the skin of her wrist and the tugging died away almost as soon as it began.

What moved past her lips instead of life was... smoke. Something empty and black that looked like smoke, anyway (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FiPryDhbOD0), to Bo. That choked like smoke when her body was expecting chi. Made her cough and fall away, even more disoriented than before. "WH---"

At least she knew the amulet worked.

"Shh," Cara soothed, quickly moving back into Bo's space before she could regain any sort of equilibrium. "I told Umbridge to warn you first, but she wanted it to be a surprise."

Couldn't lie to spare a person's feelings, but to disorientate and manipulate them? That was no problem.

"What?" Bo seemed to be saying that a lot lately. "She...what?"

"Umbridge knows how hard you work...how hard it is for you, and she wanted to make it better," Cara kept up the physical contact as she spoke, to keep Bo's attention focused on her, rather than how unlikely what she was saying actually was. "So she made it so you can't hurt me."

She leant in to nuzzle along Bo's jawline. "So I can give you what you need."

I have all I need.

But... that wasn't true, had never been true, and if the closest she'd ever come was here in this place doing what Dolores Umbridge told her to do...

Then how could this be wrong?

Bo closed her eyes, stumbling back against the edge of her desk, and lifted her head to expose her throat, hands sliding over Cara's shoulders.

It wasn't wrong to desire this, Cara couldn't break the Imperio, but she could give her some small form of affirmation before she did what she had to do.

Cara pressed in close against Bo, one hand sliding up to cup her head as she bit lightly at her throat.

Bo could have broken the Imperio, if she'd ever been herself since the moment that Umbridge had found her spewing the contents of her stomach beside the cold, still body of Kate Gregson, but she hadn't. She hadn't wanted to be. The curse was everything that saved her from herself.

This was.... she didn't know. What she'd have chosen to be, maybe, if she had a choice. Taking without stealing.

"Cara..." There wasn't anything after. Just the name, which was also a word in another language that meant something she'd always thought she wasn't allowed to have.

The curse was also a lie, and Cara knew about building your sense of self on that kind of lie. Especially when you finally acknowledged it as one.

"Listen to me." Hands cupping either side of Bo's face, Cara pulled back just far enough that Bo could look her in the eyes as she spoke. "You are not a monster."

Then, before Bo could react to that, could muster up the shame or self-loathing deny her words, in one smooth, swift, clean movement, Cara went to snap her neck.

Kenzi was right. If Bo had been herself, she might have thanked Cara.

Cara lowered the body to the desk, using a hand to close Bo's eyelids.

She made sure the door to the security office locked behind her as she left, if nothing else, it would help keep a response to the escape to being organised long enough for everyone to get clear.

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Umbridge High School Building, Saturday Evening

Re: Across the School - Somewhere Between Detention and the Security Office

Re: Across the School - Somewhere Between Detention and the Security Office

Re: Across the School - Somewhere Between Detention and the Security Office

Re: Across the School - Somewhere Between Detention and the Security Office

Re: Across the School - Somewhere Between Detention and the Security Office

Re: Across the School - Somewhere Between Detention and the Security Office

Re: Across the School - Somewhere Between Detention and the Security Office

Re: Across the School - Somewhere Between Detention and the Security Office

Re: Across the School - Somewhere Between Detention and the Security Office

Re: Across the School - Somewhere Between Detention and the Security Office

Re: Across the School - Somewhere Between Detention and the Security Office

Re: Across the School - Somewhere Between Detention and the Security Office

Re: Across the School - Somewhere Between Detention and the Security Office

Re: Across the School - Somewhere Between Detention and the Security Office

Re: Across the School - Somewhere Between Detention and the Security Office

Re: Across the School - Somewhere Between Detention and the Security Office

Re: Across the School - Somewhere Between Detention and the Security Office

Re: Across the School - Somewhere Between Detention and the Security Office

Re: Across the School - Somewhere Between Detention and the Security Office

Re: Across the School - Somewhere Between Detention and the Security Office

Re: Across the School - Somewhere Between Detention and the Security Office

Re: Across the School - Somewhere Between Detention and the Security Office

Re: Across the School - Somewhere Between Detention and the Security Office

Re: Across the School - Somewhere Between Detention and the Security Office

Re: Across the School - Somewhere Between Detention and the Security Office