Can't believe I'm doing this, I don't have any TIME. God what am I doing? Still here it is. Set in a massively AU world where teenage warlocks fight for life so any canon errors are down to that.
Mac's was pretty close to empty when I got there. Mac himself took one look at me, poured me a drink and left the bottle. It was the cheap stuff, but at this point I didn't care as long as it got me drunk. I was half way through the bottle, staring into my glass, when I felt someone sit down beside me.
“Harry.” Marcone said after sitting in silence. I closed my eyes and kept my head bowed. “Can we not do this tonight? Any other time day or night, I'll be happy to let you talk me into helping you. Just not tonight, please.”
Marcone remained where he was. “Mr. Dresden...”
“I said not tonight, Marcone. Unless you feel like telling me I did the right thing tonight, just leave.”
“For as long as I have known you Mr. Dresden, that has been your defining characteristic.” I turned towards him. “That regardless of the political consequences, your personal desires or even your own safety; you always follow the morally correct course.”
“It doesn't feel like it right now. It feels like... I know it was the right thing, it was the only thing I could do. I doesn't stop me feeling like a piece of shit, though.”
“I'm sure that the Knight and his wife will be more than willing to help you recover your moral compass.”
I laughed at the irony and threw back my glass. I refilled it and looked at him. “I really shouldn't do this.” I sighed “and I'm going to hate myself in the morning.”
Marcone smiled his tiger smile. “It's just... Don't interrupt me. I need to get this off my chest and I'm not sure I'll be able to if I don't do it all at once.” He nodded and I told him.
I told him about the Warlock Games held every New Year, how Molly Carpenter would be in the next competition, how terrified I was that one of the other Runners would kill her, my own experience in the arena, the guilt I felt for bring Molly to the trial this morning where she was nearly executed at once and the last minute arrivals that saved her life, temporarily at least. Marcone sat beside me through it all; as still as if he was carved from stone, letting my river of words wash over him. I was crying by the end. “I know it's the only way... even a mercy to be allowed a chance at life... I just wish...” I muttered before I passed out.
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timeasmymeasure
Fill: Warlock Games 1/?
Date: 2011-03-07 12:32 am (UTC)Mac's was pretty close to empty when I got there. Mac himself took one look at me, poured me a drink and left the bottle. It was the cheap stuff, but at this point I didn't care as long as it got me drunk. I was half way through the bottle, staring into my glass, when I felt someone sit down beside me.
“Harry.” Marcone said after sitting in silence. I closed my eyes and kept my head bowed. “Can we not do this tonight? Any other time day or night, I'll be happy to let you talk me into helping you. Just not tonight, please.”
Marcone remained where he was. “Mr. Dresden...”
“I said not tonight, Marcone. Unless you feel like telling me I did the right thing tonight, just leave.”
“For as long as I have known you Mr. Dresden, that has been your defining characteristic.” I turned towards him. “That regardless of the political consequences, your personal desires or even your own safety; you always follow the morally correct course.”
“It doesn't feel like it right now. It feels like... I know it was the right thing, it was the only thing I could do. I doesn't stop me feeling like a piece of shit, though.”
“I'm sure that the Knight and his wife will be more than willing to help you recover your moral compass.”
I laughed at the irony and threw back my glass. I refilled it and looked at him. “I really shouldn't do this.” I sighed “and I'm going to hate myself in the morning.”
Marcone smiled his tiger smile. “It's just... Don't interrupt me. I need to get this off my chest and I'm not sure I'll be able to if I don't do it all at once.” He nodded and I told him.
I told him about the Warlock Games held every New Year, how Molly Carpenter would be in the next competition, how terrified I was that one of the other Runners would kill her, my own experience in the arena, the guilt I felt for bring Molly to the trial this morning where she was nearly executed at once and the last minute arrivals that saved her life, temporarily at least. Marcone sat beside me through it all; as still as if he was carved from stone, letting my river of words wash over him. I was crying by the end. “I know it's the only way... even a mercy to be allowed a chance at life... I just wish...” I muttered before I passed out.