tampered | Log; Complete.

Log; Complete.

When; June 17th.
Rating; PG.
Characters; Cain Hargreaves

misterblackbird and Merryweather Hargreaves

soeur_malheur.
Summary; Merryweather arrives in the City and is lucky enough to be picked up by her big brother.
Log;

He was gone. He was gone he was gone hewasgone. How on earth did a corpse vanish from under your hands and oh my, what would happen to him now? What would happen to her? Delilah again? But this... this even they couldn't do. Or at least she hoped so.

She wished for her mother, she wished for Eric, she wished for her cards. She wished for... Cain. Oh, yes - he should still be there, still be behind her!

Pushing herself off, she stood up and turned around while wiping her slightly scraped hands on her dress. There was no Cain. No Cain, and no Riff, and no nothing she'd ever known. Instead a foreign square, and a carousel, and a fountain, and buildings mostly in terms of décor.

This time, the screams stayed firmly locked in her throat.

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It was early enough yet, and Cain had more than willingly offered to show Riff the City--it made more sense talking about the places and the strange people there if one saw them.

They were crossing the square, Misery Square, Cain said, just to make a point, since this was where so many unhappy newcomers landed upon arrival. He himself certainly had, and the name had certainly fit.

But now, now things were better. Riff was here, with news about Merry and everyone else. He felt relieved, almost like he'd just recovered from a fever.

Newcomers were usually wandering the square, looking confused, lost, scared; ignored by the passing crowd, of course. He spotted a smaller figure through the crowds--it was perhaps more unfortunate to see a child in that situation. An adult would survive, make friendships and alliances; but a child, still so reliant on parents or caretakers, would have a harder time of it.

Still, it was unfortunate to see her standing there like that, long blonde hair disheveled, clothes dirty, scraped up.

The way she stood was familiar. The dress was familiar too.

He couldn't keep his steps from turning towards the girl, thinking, perhaps--why wouldn't the City call her too?

"Merry?" he called, tentatively.

[ Posting as comments to keep the tags from going off the page and tracking the post! ]

After his arrival, Riff had done his best to make sure he didn't lose any more time. Familiarizing himself with his Master and his surroundings once he was out of the shock of coming here was his priority, and he made sure never to leave Cain's side. He feared it too much, as a break from the normalcy he had always been used to.

There had been far too much madness for him not to fear.

An extensive tour of the City had been in order, and as Cain commanded, so he followed. At the point of reaching Misery Square, Riff's eyes wandered for a bit, until he heard the whispered name and quickly turned his attention back to his Lord. A tense expression settling on his face, he waited for a bit, before coming up behind him and looking at the figure of the girl Cain had just addressed.

That hair-- form. Stunned, Riff moved quickly, and called, "Miss Merryweather... here?" Why does she look like that? What is going on?!

She was still looking and taking it all in and almost overwhelmed and looking - then, behind her, someone whispered her name. Later on, she would not be able to recall how it came that she heard the quiet sound, barely louder than breath, amidst all the noise on the lively square, but she did.

Oh, and how she knew that voice. And the other one, the following one, too. Suddenly, everything seemed much closer to alright.

Waking from her paralysis, Merry quickly turned around; and there they were, her brother, her beloved brother, along with his faithful butler, who belonged to the family as much as she did (maybemore but she didn't want to think that).

The words left her voice with a wondrous ease now. "CAIN! You're here!"

She hadn't seemed herself at all at first, just a lost ghost of the stubborn Merry he knew so well. But the moment she turned, the moment she called his name, there, it was like she had woken up again. The familiar face, the familiar voice, the familiar bright blue eyes.

"It is you..."

He dashed across the short distance separating them and caught her in his arms.

"First Riff and now you--yes I'm here. We're all here."

Let the passers-by stare: they all knew reunions were far too few here. Let them see this one.

He pulled back just enough to look her in the eyes. "But how did you get here? And in such a state too. Riff said he just looked in at you when he realised I was gone."

It was her! Startled didn't begin to express how he felt just then, had she worried and come after them? He knew Merryweather's tendency to be disobedient, so it didn't surprise him. Quickly falling into step behind Cain, he stood where he was, and then, he bent a little to be able to speak to her.

"That is correct..." he replied softly, still not able to believe his eyes. "What happened, Miss Merryweather? What has brought you int such a state?" concern lined his eyes. She had suffered quite a bit back home, after that horrid carnival- and now, to be brought here.

Though it was making him feel content to see that Cain's smile had returned. He glanced over at him, before turning his attention back to the girl. Knowing the impropriety of speaking out of his place, he let Merryweather address them first.

When Cain rushed to embrace Merryweather, she flung her arms around him and held on tightly, burying her face in the crook of his neck. She was so glad he was here, and Riff too. Her brother's embrace was warm and comforting, and for a moment she thought she'd never felt safer. How could she ever have hated this brother of hers?

While holding him, she listened to the two of them and tried to make what little information she got fit into a whole picture. It refused to.

She untangled herself slightly from Cain, eyeing first him, then Riff. "But, don't you know? You were with me, just a moment ago in London - this isn't London, is it? And then we saw Gilford - did he have to be so stupid? - and I... I cried so much I didn't pay attention, until suddenly he vanished from right beneath me! And when I stood up, I was here."

When Gilford died? Cain tried not to let surprise show in his face: she was confused enough already. That had been some time ago, back during that string of murders and disappearances, back when she--he stopped his thoughts. Was Merry joking? Or mad? Or--Riff had said they'd only just closed that whole Gladstone affair when Cain had been in the City for days already.

He thought a moment about how to explain to her--how the City worked; how, it seemed, time itself worked.

"This isn't London--it's just called the City. It draws people here, the way it did you and Riff and me. It pulls people from all different times and places. I was with you when...when he died, but that isn't when the City pulled me in. It decided to take me much later--even though I got here before you. Does that make any sense to you at all?"

Of course it couldn't, he thought. It sounded madder and madder the more he tried to explain it. How could time move that way? How could Merry have been with him at home in those days and weeks after Gilford's death--she came with him to the Cromwells' house!--if she had been taken by the City? It was as if the City plucked people not out of time or place, but out of some point in their individual lives.

"It doesn't matter. You can puzzle it out, I know. You're here, I'm here, Riff's here--that's what matters. But, Merry," he said quietly, his face turning grave, "the City has drawn in other people too. That mad doctor, and his assistant, and...Father are here too."

It concerned him that she'd ended up here--she would have been safer still in London, even in his absence. Especially if his father and his followers ended up here, trapped like he was.

Or was that true, since time was suddenly so out of joint?

He turned to look up at Riff, forever standing over them both, "Riff met the doctor's assistant already, but I don't know that they'll know you're here yet, Merry. I want to keep it that way."

Listening to Merryweather's story made him grow increasingly tense. Recalling an event so far gone in the past that it had become a lingering memory, yet claiming as though it had just happened? It didn't make any sense.

That meant the entire incident at Gladstone's... everything down to Merryweather's rescue by that bold Oscar. It was... frightening to imagine, truly.

As he watched Cain try and explain things to her, Riff sighed softly. To someone just arriving, it would make so little sense, even more to Merryweather. He felt sorry for her, and moving forth, he gave Merry a little bow.

"Before anything, Miss Merryweather... know that what we say is true. This place... it's beyond anything we know. Something out of a cruel fairytale." it was hard for him to believe this as well, but he would never doubt Cain.

He had no means to.

Forcing a smile onto his mouth, he touched Cain's shoulder gently.

"Master Cain, we must take Miss Merryweather back to safety. As long as she remains with us... the Doctor will find no way to harm her." He looked above them. "We should go, quickly. I fear they may come upon us, as that boy Cassian came across me."

Merryweather listened quietly as both Cain and Riff tried to explain the situation to her. It sounded quite disjointed and impossible to her. Cain was from later, yet had come here before her? And this place... she just came here? It made her come here?

"Is this... some kind of black magic?"

Then the other news sunk in. The Doctor, father, and their minions were here too. Well, if that wasn't grand. Things just had to get worse and worse, didn't they?

But, could she even trust anyone or anything anymore? Merrywheather looked at both Cain and Riff for a long time. They were as she knew them, nothing unusual at all. Just their worried faces disconcerted her.

"Ah... Riff, you met one of them?" That was bad news. Delilah didn't rest, as it seemed. Merryweather's heart pounded loudly in her chest. She didn't want to be doomed to this fate of misfortune for eternity, but at the moment, it awfully felt that way.

Still, there'd been enough depression for now, she decided.

Merryweather frowned, determined that the time to worry about just how this place worked had to come later. These were the people she knew as her family.

"So stop mothering me, I'm alright!" She pushed Cain's shoulders a little for emphasis. "Let's go to where you live. You have a place to live here, right? I hope it isn't too shabby!"

This City was strange; stranger even than their London, and possibly more cruel. Something made her feel that particular likelihood rather distinctly. Still, she'd have time to work it out later, when all of her shock had subsided.
Mourning for Gilford, confusion and fear were still lurking closely behind her resolve, but she wouldn't break down now - at least not until they were all safe.

Cain gave in to her prodding and stood up, offering her his hand and beginning to lead the way out of the square--the tour could wait for now. He could show them both around now. "I'm living in the City Opera House," he said. "It's just up off the square a bit. It may seem a bit strange, but it's comfortable, and it's...interesting with the lot of us who live there." He laughed a little. "With the three of us there, I wonder if we shouldn't move into one of the flats--we're quite a crowd now."

But he wondered whether moving would leave the other residents vulnerable. Lailis had been picked out twice now, and Rue and Rosette seemed determined to confront his enemies. He'd confide it to Riff later: he would have some perspective on it.

And it might be good for Merry to be exposed to more of the arts--ballet, singing--that went on night and day there. He'd like for her to keep up the piano too. Autor was quite the pianist--perhaps he'd tutor her. And Merry and Rosette ought to get on together brilliantly. Lailis would be pleased to meet her too. He wanted them all to meet her--but, they'd talk about her then, to friends, on the Network. Damn that thing. Merry would get on brilliantly with it too.

"This place is very different from London--in more than one way. It takes getting used to. Everyone around here communicates through something called the Network--it's something like a combination of telegraphs and typewriters. Nevermind--you'll see. I suppose you'll want to explore it and the City alike, but you must be careful who sees you on the Network, who you talk to, and where you go. You know I'll be keeping an eye on you. This place is also far more dangerous than London."

Too harsh? Perhaps. Half-dreaming, he pictured the three of them living in the Opera House, safe, together, the way they'd--they'd never really been safe, had they? He gripped his sister's hand a little tighter and checked for Riff's perpetual presence beside him.

This was how things were supposed to be, weren't they? It was an odd sort of comfort knowing Merry and Cain were within his view, and that they were here together. He just hoped, as time had passed for him in Cain's supposed fifty day absence, their own would not be noticed or there would indeed be chaos at Hargreaves manor.

Though one look at Cain made Riff realize they were probably sharing the same sort of fear. This Network... it connected everyone. There was a fair chance they would be discovered. And knowing Cain's protectiveness of his sister intensified this worry. Merryweather wasn't one to sit around...

Still, if they kept their guard up, perhaps staying here wouldn't be too bad, would it?

"If I may, Master Cain..." Riff offered gently. "We could find residence next to the Opera House. I noticed uninhabited establishments closeby. I could explore and we could remain close, while still being close to your associates."

He then turned to Merryweather.

"But first we need to get you a clean dress, a good supper and tea, and some rest. I shall attend to you at once, Miss Merryweather."

Smiling, he looked back to Cain, and for the briefest moment, a warmth filled his gaze before he nodded to him and turned to the both of them again.

As long as they were together, it would be alright.

Merrywheather let herself be dragged around by Cain, staring at the surroundings while trying to keep listening to his explanations. It was all too big for her tired brain right now. So many impossibilities!

And Cain obviously intended to watch her like a hawk. Well, that was nothing unusual. She just hoped, in that case, that the residents of the Opera House weren't too boring.

Oh well. What mattered was that she was with him, and with Riff. She certainly didn't want to dwell on the possiblity of being here all on her own. At the mention of food, drink and a warm place to stay, Merryweather's face softened and she sighed quietly.

"Yes. Let's go to the Opera House, I'm hungry and tired..." She trailed off like there was another thing to say, but she found there was nothing - or maybe there was, but she didn't like to talk about it.

She wanted nothing but good things now.

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Log; Complete.

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