tampered | Log; Ongoing

Log; Ongoing

When; Saturday, October 25th
Rating; PG-13
Characters; Harry Dresden

dresden4hire and Karrin Murphy

chicagosbest
Summary; Turns out you gotta carry out the curse dares, even if it's after the curse day. Karrin has to go lingerie shopping with Harry as per Lash's dare... but will she be able to get out of Thomas'?

Karrin had hoped she could have gotten out of Lash's dare by setting it after the curse had worn off.

No such luck. Saturday morning, through no will of her own, she had woken up at 8 and searched the network for lingerie shops. Her instincts kept pushing her towards the racier set, but she clamped down and managed to find the location of a regular old department store. That should be safe enough. She resolutely refused to think about Thomas' dare. Perverted little vampyric bastard.

10 o'clock on the dot found her at the fountain, waiting for Dresden to show up and praying to God that he wouldn't.

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Apparently either God hadn't listened to Murphy's prayers or was unable to answer them in the affirmative because it would interfere with His work in making Harry's life miserable; because at 10:05 Harry strolled up to the fountain to meet Murphy. He had purposely worn a nice pair of jeans and some t-shirt declaring "Your Mom Goes To College", as if to emphasize that he didn't need help clothes shopping. Of course, the leather duster and wizard's staff were standard issue and hardly ever left his side or shoulders.

It was surreal seeing Murphy by the fountain, that she was actually in the City. He couldn't help but smile at that thought, even though it was a bit selfish. Murphy always made him feel... safe. Or at least safer, that no matter what went down Karrin Murphy was there and had his back. Or his front. Or really whatever part of Harry needed having. Or something like that...

"I want you to know," Harry said as he walked up to her. "I only agreed to come so I can suggest the most ridiculous, hideous outfits possible and laugh at your expression when I do."

And there went the last of her hopes and dreams. Karrin swallowed a sigh and stood.

"And I want you to know that the only reason we're here is because of a dare. If you dare have an opinion about anything, I am going to punch you in the face." She hesitated, then added. "It's for your own good."

She should warn him. In all fairness, she really should warn him of what Lash dared her to do...and that asshole Thomas. Already her fingers were playing with the top button of her shirt, their being in public the only thing keeping the curse from pushing it further.

But the words stuck in her throat. Karrin was proud, and she hated being embarrassed as much as she hated losing. If she just could have answered Lash's question, she wouldn't be in this predicament right now. But she couldn't, and that bothered her almost as much as the curse did.

"Let's go," she said, her voice clipped. "I wanna get this over with."

"Of course it's for my own good," Harry said with a nod, even as he gave Murphy an odd look. "Every time I get punched in my face it's for my own good. Sometimes I admittedly punch other people in the face for my own good as well."

Harry wondered what kind of dare could possibly make Murphy so agitated and nervous. It had to be something embarrassing, otherwise she wouldn't have cared. Something Dresden likely wouldn't let her live down.

"Alright, let's be quick about it then," Harry said with a bit of a smirk. "I wouldn't want you to be forced to hang out with me any more than necessary."

Karrin gave him a look and led him down the street to the local department store. Her steps were quick, and she didn't look back to see if he was following. The man was built like a giant; there was no way he couldn't keep up.

The lingerie department was buried in the heart of the store; a little self-pityingly, Karrin felt like she was marching into her own doom. But finally they reached the racks of lacy bras and slinky nighties. Karrin's face burned, and it took so much of her willpower to calm it down, she didn't notice that she had undone the top two buttons of her shirt.

"Right," she said. "Just...stand here. Don't move, don't think, don't say a thing. I'll be done soon."

Harry followed after Murphy, now realizing just how it was that Mouse might sometimes feel when he and Harry were out and about. There was something in Karrin's posture that made Harry wisely keep quiet. Apparently there was also something in her posture that made her undo the buttons on her blouse. Not that Harry had been looking, he was just rather observant.

When they got to their ultimate destination Harry was in complete disbelief. His feet stopped at the entrance to the lingerie department.

"Murphy, what are you doing?" he asked, glancing half at her before looking down at the floor again.

"Lingerie shopping," Karrin snapped, hiding behind a rack of bright pink teddies, for once grateful for her diminutive stature. "It was a dare!" From the demon living in your brain. Karrin thought about bringing up the demon, but bit her tongue. He must have had a reason not to mention it to her. She'd give him some time to bring it up...when she got sick of waiting, then she'd question him about it.

"And I'll repeat, Dresden, in case the sight of undergarments has wiped your mind: Don't move. Don't think. Don't speak. If you have an opinion on something, I will punch you. I just want to get this over with."

...what the hell was her leg doing? She quickly pulled it back behind the rack, praying Harry hadn't noticed it coyly coming out like a burlesque dancer at the beginning of a show.

She was going to KILL Thomas.

Murphy hadn't need worry about Harry seeing anything, his eyes were firmly glued to the floor. He didn't want to see anything Murphy was even remotely considering buying. That was not something he wanted to know about her, what kind of lingerie she preferred.

"Promise me that whatever you get today you will burn when you get home?" he asked. "If you don't, I will curse it. I will curse it to sing. So please burn it and we will never speak of this again."

At those words, Karrin did poke her head out from behind the rack, scowling at him. "I'm not going to BURN something I just bought, Dresden, for the sake of your modesty! It's not like I have stacks of money to throw away on curses. You don't want to know what I'm buying, don't look up!"

Snarling, she dug around for something -- anything -- that WASN'T some shade of pink. Under other circumstances, she might have had fun trying to find something that made her look good and that Jared might like, but right now she just wanted to got something and get out before she humiliated herself further. (Besides, living with Ivy made sex kind of...awkward.)

"Hell's bells, why is this happening?" Harry muttered to himself. Another time and another place he would have killed to be in this situation. But that time was not now and that place was not here, so it was very, very awkward.

"I'm not looking up! This is revenge thinly disguised as a dare, isn't it?" he asked. "For all the times I've asked you to go fight plant monsters or vampires or things like that. Well I have to tell you, Murphy. This is much, much worse."

"Oh get over yourself, Dresden," Karrin grumbled. "Not EVERYTHING revolves around you."

The problem with department store lingerie was the selection -- they didn't have much there, and what they did have was kind of trashy. After far more digging than should have really been necessary, she found a teddy in a shade of red dark enough that it didn't look like it came from a porno. The price was...more than what she really wanted to pay for an undergarment she didn't want, but if it got her out of the store any sooner...She dove into the changing room and tried it on. Perfect fit. And it actually looked pretty good on her. She spent a moment longer than necessary admiring it.

And then it was like her body was no longer under her control. Instead of taking it off and getting dressed to go buy it, she put her clothes on on top of it.

"Hey Dresden, could you come here a minute?" The question was out of her mouth before she could stop it, her hand on the lock before she could think. She just barely got her body back until control before she opened the door. Shit. Shit shit shit shit shit shit SHIT.

"Dresden?" Her voice caught in her throat, and she had to swallow before speaking. "Umm...we kinda got a problem."

"You don't know that!" Harry shot back. "How many times have things turned out to actually revolve around me?!"

Of course, the revolving was never in a good way. It was the kind of revolving that revolving doors that were really too fast and too small to use properly had.

He continued to stand there patiently looking at the ground until Murphy called after him. Harry knew she was about as mortified as he was at this whole thing and figured she wouldn't have called him unless it was some sort of emergency. Long strides brought him quickly to where she was.

"Murphy, we're in the middle of the lingerie department," he called across the door. "How are we just now having a problem?"

Edited 2008-10-26 04:28 (UTC)

She gulped again, her mouth dry, her fingers still twitching, trying to open the door.

Come on, Karrin. Just tell him. It's his stupid brother's fault, not yours. Just tell him.

"There was another dare," she said. "To..." Oh God oh God oh God. "Tostripinfrontofyou." She leaned against the door, her head throbbing. "I've been fighting it all day, but...well...if I open this door right now, I'm going to start taking my clothes off. There. That's the problem."

Dear God in Heaven, just kill me now.

God hated Harry Dresden. That was the only excuse he could honestly come up with as to what this was happening. Someone out there who could control reality hated him.

"Then take them off without opening the door," Harry suggested, thudding his head against the door. "Just, take them off and I'll face the door. Then, technically, you're stripping in front of me, right?"

"I...guess." That...might actually work. Please God, let it work. She took a deep breath. It was worth a shot, at least.

"If this DOESN'T work, Dresden, I'm kicking your ass," she said, unbuttoning her blouse. "And then I'm killing that goddamn brother of yours."

"Thomas did this?" he asked, growling just a bit. He was going to kill his brother dead. What the hell was Thomas thinking? The situation was incredibly awkward and embarrassing for both of them. And that just wouldn't do. It needed to be more awkward for Murphy than for him.

So Harry started into "Let's Get It On" by Marvin.

"Bow wow wooooow... I've been really tryyyin' baby..."

Murphy froze, blouse half-way off her shoulders, at the sound of Dresden's voice. Is he...oh HELL no.

"Harry Dresden." Her voice could have cut diamond. "I do not need a soundtrack. Keep that up and I swear by this bright red teddy, I will kick your ass."

"Tryin to hold back this feelin' for soooo long. And if you feel like I feel baby, come on!" Harry continued to sing, getting into the song quite a bit as soon as he heard how outraged Murphy was. Of course, he fully intended to run away like a little girl before she was out of the dressing room, but it was still worth it.

"Murphy... are you getting a little worked up?"

Karrin twitched, the shirt sliding off of her shoulders. Typical. Just typical. Harry was a good friend -- quite probably her best -- but that didn't change the fact that he was an asshole. And she wasn't going to put up with it.

His last question put her over the edge. Heedless of her state of undress (she had pants on, at least, though the teddy showed a little more cleavage than she would generally feel comfortable wiht), and definitely not giving Harry any sort of warning, she slammed open the dressing room door, knocking the wizard on his ass, and pinned him to the ground.

"Yeah, Dresden," she snarled. "I'm a little worked up."

Harry had no warning before the door slammed against his face. He barely had time to process that before Murphy was on him, cleavage bearing red teddy and all, pinning him to the ground. Harry was probably as close to death as he had ever been, so he did what he always did in situations like this. Antagonized the person and made it worse.

"I can see that," he said, waggling his eyebrows at her. "This aggressiveness is kind of a turn on. Are you sure you want to do this here and now though?"

Karrin pressed her forearm against his throat -- not really hard enough to inhibit breathing, but it would making talking difficult and her point clear.

"I'm not laughing, Dresden," she said. "I am not in any way amused by your adorable behavior. Now you're going to cut the crap, or pay the price." She removed her arm from his neck and twisted his nose HARD. "Got that?"

Harry quickly shut up once the pressure was applied to his neck. He even managed to stop grinning like an idiot and settle his mouth into a thin line that was continuously threatening to smirk. Until she twisted his already sore nose, causing him to help in pain.

"Got it, got it! Ow, you're such a bully."

Edited 2008-10-26 07:42 (UTC)

Karrin gave his nose one last tweak out of petty spite and got off of him. Her anger was cooling enough for her to realize: 1) Her breasts were just about ready to fall out of the negligee 2) They had accumulated a crowd and 3) A security guard was coming their way. Her expression didn't change.

"I'm getting dressed now," she said cooly, and slammed the changing room door behind her, leaving Harry to deal with security for the moment.

Harry calmly stood up and dusted himself off, gingerly pressing a hand to his nose where she had tweaked it. Murphy was kind of pissed and Harry was in pain but all in all he figured that it had been worth it.

Harry was able to appeased the security guard with such phrases as "she can't keep her hands off me" and "I'm sure you know exactly how that is." He figured the guy mostly had come over because of the top that Murphy was wearing.

"Are you decent now so we can go?" Harry asked once the guard had left.

Karrin heard the shit Harry spewed to the security guard, but kept her temper reined in. Physical violence wouldn't teach Harry his lesson, though the nose-tweaking had been satisfying. No, she would bide her time, make her vengence lasting. (At least, as lasting as anything ever got with Harry. He had a notoriously thick skull.)

Actually, his birthday was coming up. That would be the perfect time. A vicious smile slowly spread across her face as she folded up the negligee and finished buttoning up her shirt.

Revenge would be sweet.

Karrin smiled beatifically at Harry as she opened the changing room door and stepped out. "C'mon, Dresden, let's pay for this and get outta here."

"Are you sure that you don't want to pick out another outfit?" he asked, already tensing up in anticipation for another attack of some sort. It was worth it though, to tease her.

"Or we could go to the shooting range and fire a tank or whatever really big weapons they have there," he added. "You know, just to erase the last hour or so from our memories."

Karrin smiled at him. "No offense, Dresden, but after the last hour, I think I need a break from you." To plot and plan...and get lunch. She was starved.

She paid quickly for the lingerie and headed out of the store.

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Log; Ongoing

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