25 Unicorn Street, Wednesday Morning

[on_her_korhal]

Kerrigan sat. Propped up in her corner. Silent. Quiet. The whole shebang as always. Lasting on and on and on with nothing but interference like a bad TV-set--

She became aware, dimly, that the interference wasn't alone. Some device in the corner was making noise, and with every beat of her heart, it became more offensive, louder, so solidly there she could...

...Crawl over towards the transmitter and hit the button, listening.

Raynor	The man's voice was familiar. Very familiar. "Hey, darlin'," Jim Raynor spoke, and his voice managed to communicate a soft, if worried smile.
Kerrigan	She rubbed her temple. "You checking in on me now, Jimmy? Making sure I haven't run off and cut somebody's throat yet?"
Raynor	A pause. "Of course not," he replied, his voice full of consternation. "I just wanted to know if you were doin' alright."
Kerrigan	"Don't think you can get me a cup of coffee over the wireless, Jim," she said. The tired quality of her own voice surprised her. "It's taken you a while."
Raynor	"Yeah, well, not everyone can bust balls like you do, sweetheart," he replied. She could hear him shifting in his seat. "It's taken us a while to get the apparatus working."
Kerrigan	Because that didn't make her feel like crap for the attitude. Or should've made her feel like crap. It wasn't quite coming. "What, missing out on any good engineers?"
Raynor	There was a silence. "Most of my crew got slaughtered in a Zerg attack last week," Jim said, finally, "It's been a little hard to come by. The Protoss ain't helpin'."
Kerrigan	The Protoss. She rested her forehead to the wall. "Christ, Jimmy. I didn't know."
Raynor	"You got your own problems." A rasped breath. "I'm still dreamin' about you. God knows why."
Kerrigan	She snorted. "Big bad monster of your nightmares, huh?"
Raynor	"...No, never gonna be." A sigh, this time. She was positive it was a sigh. "Keep seein' you like you shoulda been. Happy. Smilin'. Messin' around in our garden while tryin' not to ruin your nailpolish--"
Kerrigan	"Your dreams are deluded," she replied, gently banging her head off the wall.
Raynor	A pause on the other end of the line. "I'm sorry, darlin'. Didn't mean to make you uncomfortable."
Kerrigan	"I don't wear nailpolish. Never have." Pause. "And I better have been wearing pants."
Raynor	"Yeah. Yeah, you were wearing pants."
Kerrigan	"Good." And now what would she say? She stared at the wall.
Raynor	"...Anyway, Mike's been campaigning pretty hard on your behalf," he continued, awkwardly, "Your story's all over the underground. Don't you worry. We'll get the bastard."
Kerrigan	And now her eyes were closed. "Not if I get there first."
Raynor	"Yeah." Some noise. "...Listen, we got some trouble down the line, but I'mma call you back, alright?" More noise. "Sarah. Seriously. It'll be--" Crackle. And gone.

Her fingers tightened on her scalp. She hadn't realised they'd even been there. For a minute, she could just pull back enough of the armor that it seemed as if the tentacles between her fingers weren't anything of the sort at all-- it was hair, thick and red, strands upon strands. The image of what Jimmy must've been thinking-- herself, sitting in a garden, smiling like some kind of dumbass.

The image wouldn't solidify. Her hair toughened.

With a loud yell, she smashed the transmitter into the wall, and left it there to rot.

"Goddammit."

[ open for one, please ]

Comments

[idontlooktired.livejournal.com]

Harriet had coffee, and it was strong and there was a lot of it. Despite the heat, which she really wasn't appreciating, she thought Kerrigan would prefer her coffee hot.

She considered the door for a moment, then knocked.

[on-her-korhal.livejournal.com]

She was still glaring dangerously at the device when Harriet's mind frizzled suddenly into being in her vicinity; Kerrigan's attention shot sideways towards the door, and with it, her entire body.

Letting go of her hair, she took a deep breath and compelled her feet to move. Right. She opened the door a few moments later, the back of it hitting the wall with a smack. "Dean Jones."

[idontlooktired.livejournal.com]

She raised an eyebrow and held out the the coffee. "Good morning, Sarah," she said, then added, "I'm not calling you Miss Kerrigan, it sounds ridiculous, and you're no longer a Lieutenant, so until you come up with something you prefer, I'm afraid you're stuck with Sarah."

[on-her-korhal.livejournal.com]

"I was never really a miss," she muttered, a little groggy. Her fingers curled around the coffee cup in some level of thanks-- careful not to accidentally extend any blades or anything.

That would've really made a crappy morning unbearable. "It'll do."

[idontlooktired.livejournal.com]

"And feel free to call me Harriet," she said, smiling just a little, but behind it was concern. "Equal footing is important." More so for Kerrigan than for anyone else, she was certain of it.

[on-her-korhal.livejournal.com]

"You mind coming indoors, Harriet?" Kerrigan asked, without missing a beat. "I keep getting the feeling I'm being gawked at."

[idontlooktired.livejournal.com]

"I'd love to," she replied, and went to walk inside. "It's hard to visit when you're standing on the stoop."

[on-her-korhal.livejournal.com]

Sipping her coffee, Kerrigan closed the door behind her. "I don't know. I've seen people try," she offered, half-heartedly.

[idontlooktired.livejournal.com]

"I'm not most people." This smile wasn't small, and Harriet made herself comfortable on a couch, without waiting to be invited this time. "If I ask how you're doing, will you tell me?"

[on-her-korhal.livejournal.com]

Kerrigan, herself, came to a pause in the middle of the doorway. Couches had been but one of many sacrifices made to her ability to function, really. "Only one way to find out."

[idontlooktired.livejournal.com]

With a tiny nod of acknowledgement, Harriet looped her fingers over her knee. "How are you doing?" she asked seriously, watching Kerrigan's eyes.

[on-her-korhal.livejournal.com]

"Crap," Kerrigan said, frankly, with a shrug that moved one wing a little too close to the top of the doorway.

She ducked out of it, moving into the room. "But at least I'm employed."

[idontlooktired.livejournal.com]

"I heard about that," she said quietly. "Better or worse crap? Working from when you returned as a baseline."

[on-her-korhal.livejournal.com]

"Sometimes better, sometimes worse," she replied, vaguely. It had become easier just to perch, all things considered, in the middle of the room-- normal human comfort was a pipe dream, at this point. "I just got a phone call."

[idontlooktired.livejournal.com]

"I see." Harriet's expression invited her to continue, but didn't demand it.

[on-her-korhal.livejournal.com]

"An old friend of mine called Jimmy Raynor," she continued, fixing her eyes on Harriet. She was trying not to let any of the frustration seep out; it would make it harder, feeling something of it reflected in Harriet's mind if she did. "He helped liberate me on Char."

[idontlooktired.livejournal.com]

Despite her best efforts, Harriet picked up on it, but she was doing her best to keep her mind as quiet as possible. "a man I'd like to meet someday," she murmured. "Why was he calling?" A casual call wouldn't have evoked this reaction.

[on-her-korhal.livejournal.com]

"Checking in to see if I wasn't dead yet," she said, flatly, "He's apparently been trying for weeks."

[idontlooktired.livejournal.com]

"I trust you assured him you're not," she said lightly, but her attention sharpened. "Problem with the communications between there and here?"

[on-her-korhal.livejournal.com]

"Apparently it becomes a little difficult to establish communications when most of your technical staff just died fighting the aliens," Kerrigan answered, without a hint of emotion showing up in her tone. "Thumbs up for fast work in bad circumstances, Jimmy."

[idontlooktired.livejournal.com]

"Ah." Harriet glanced down at her hands for a moment before looking back at Kerrigan. "I didn't realise your call came from a combat zone."

[on-her-korhal.livejournal.com]

"Everything's a combat zone back home, Harriet," she said, wryly. "I just didn't know they'd struck Jimmy that hard."

[idontlooktired.livejournal.com]

Her lips tightened; she hadn't realised just how bad it was. "Point taken," she said, nodding once. "What did your friend have to say?"

[on-her-korhal.livejournal.com]

"Not much." She could even say it without looking away from Harriet. There was something to this whole Zerg thing, after all...

And if that wasn't funny, she didn't know what was. "I think he was just happy to hear from me." A little bitter, maybe.

[idontlooktired.livejournal.com]

"You don't sound happy to hear from him," Harriet observed in a quiet voice. It wasn't an interrogation, even if it was starting to feel a bit like one, but she was concerned.

[on-her-korhal.livejournal.com]

"If I didn't want to answer, I'd say stop," she said, tilting her head so that the tentacles fell to one side, hardly moving amongst themselves. Sturdy as a rock. "It's good to know he's alive."

[idontlooktired.livejournal.com]

"Of that I have no doubt," she said with a smile. "To both statements."

[on-her-korhal.livejournal.com]

She made a noise that, in some universe, might've meant acknowledgement. "But it's over," Kerrigan segued, smoothly. "How is life at the school?" It beat turning inwards again.

[idontlooktired.livejournal.com]

Harriet kept watching her, then nodded again, glancing away. "The school is..." She grimaced. "The school is fine. One of the new teachers, however, I'd much rather do without."

[on-her-korhal.livejournal.com]

Her eyebrows made a valiant attempt at her hairline. "You're kidding me."

[idontlooktired.livejournal.com]

"I only wish I was." She sighed a very small sigh, composed of equal parts frustration, resignation, and irritation. "You remember I told you about the individual responsible for my position as the ex-Prime Minister?"

[on-her-korhal.livejournal.com]

"It's him. I know." Her eyes narrowed visibly. Anger, she could manage. Anger was good, anger was easy, and-- "Do you need me to give him a piece of my mind?"

[idontlooktired.livejournal.com]

She smiled. "Would I like you to? Oh yes." There wasn't anyone other than Kerrigan she'd admit that to. "Am I going to ask you to? No. He's a teacher here, and that makes him my responsibility, no matter how distasteful I might find it." She held up a hand. "But if he puts any of the students in danger, the situation will change."

[on-her-korhal.livejournal.com]

"I might not be a teacher anymore," Kerrigan replied, turning her head away from Harriet, finally letting herself have the luxury of a languid session of pacing around the room, "But if he gives you any crap--"

She didn't feel she had to finish the sentence.

[idontlooktired.livejournal.com]

She didn't. Harriet gave her a quick smile in acknowledgement, watching her pace. "I'm going to be taking a class next term. It will let me keep a closer eye on the students, and on him."

[on-her-korhal.livejournal.com]

"Do you think--"

A pause.

"I could come back and teach, again?"

[idontlooktired.livejournal.com]

"Yes, I do," she answered immediately, absolutely no doubt in her voice or her mind. "Do you think you could?"

[on-her-korhal.livejournal.com]

"It would beat the job I have right now," she snorted. It was only a spot of avoiding the full question.

And at times, she did feel like she could do anything.

[idontlooktired.livejournal.com]

"Come back and teach," Harriet told her. "Lord knows, we need everyone we can get countering whatever nonsense the Doctor is going to fill their heads with." She smiled a little. "Something you'd be uniquely suited to."

[on-her-korhal.livejournal.com]

"I'm glad you hold me in such esteem," Kerrigan replied, with just a hint of amusement. "Can't say no after that one."

[idontlooktired.livejournal.com]

"I'm pleased to hear it," she replied, sounding ever so slightly amused. "Any ideas what you might teach?"