maskormenacelogs | [CLOSED] for once upon a time from the vines of your holiness

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[CLOSED] for once upon a time from the vines of your holiness

WHO: Frederick Chilton and Raina
WHERE: Chilton's office.
WHEN: November 9th; following Raina's meeting with Skye.
WHAT: Reuniting after Raina's port out and very likely trash talking Skye.
WARNINGS: idk. Shadiness?

Rosaline Oleander. That was the name of the patient who held the current time slot. Actually, she held two time slots -- a full two hours requested with imPort psychiatrist, Dr. Frederick Chilton. In reality, it was Raina who had booked the appointment well in advance and a part of her wondered if Frederick would realize that simply from the chosen name alone. If not, at least it was bound to put her in his mind. Oleander was one of her favorite most flowers, after all.

The unfortunate issue was that the run-in with Skye had put her behind schedule. Ms. Rosaline Oleander wound up being about twenty minutes late for her appointment. So she didn't dawdle. As soon as they finished speaking, Raina hurried across the street and went directly to Chilton's office. She paused outside the door, drawing in a deep breath. Admittedly, she was a little anxious. Two weeks wasn't terribly long, but her memories had only just resurfaced upon arrival. Raina spent time away without even recalling she had someone so vital to her life. And there was a certain guilt associated with that.

She knocked on the office door lightly to announce herself. "Sorry I'm late. I ran into a bit of a problem." She grabbed the knob, twisting it, and stepping inside the very familier office. Her eyes swept it briefly before landing on him -- a breath captured in her throat. They always did say that absence makes the heart grow fonder.

"I hope you can find it in you to forgive me for my tardiness. If not, I suppose you'll have to punish me."

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Chilton stood up immediately at the sound of her voice, his own heart lodged in his larynx. He had waited two weeks to hear that melodic voice once more, two weeks succumbed to the faith that she had instilled within him. She said she would return, and he trusted her.

He believed in her. This heretic believed in little else, but he took her promise as prophecy.

"Raina," he said, breathing the name. That singular word. Chilton opened his arms, speechlessly beseeching an embrace with her.

The smile on her face was all emotion -- never before had she been one to succumb to happy tears. She practically rushed to Frederick, wrapped her arms around him and breathed in his intoxicating scent, drowning gloriously in the sensations of him. She planted her hands on his cheeks and kissed him -- quick pecks, prolonged lingering kisses, back to quick pecks. And after a while, she opened her eyes to look at him, to relish the sight of him as she separated to speak.

"I missed you. I didn't even know I missed you, and I still missed you." She thumbed his cheek. "I was so alone for so long."

"Was --" Chilton interrupted his own question, his mouth needing hers at that very second.

"Was it really that bad? Without me?" He was able to muster out, momentarily sated with that stolen kiss, additional as it was. No doubt within the next minute he would find himself starving for yet another one. His fingers spread wide and pressed into her back as if his very flesh could hardly believe that she had returned to him, once more. Raina was in his arms and he wanted for nothing more.

"I got your messages. Dutifully. For every day that you have been gone." His hand stroked down her back, and he kept his amazed eyes on her.

"What happened? Your life -- your other life, as it were. What am I not part of?"

"I would go as far as to say life isn't worth living without you as a part of it. And I suppose it's...fortunate...that I didn't remember losing you. For a period of time, I longed for nothing more than death. Recalling what we had may have only served as the final push."

Chilton had lived the two weeks of loneliness, the separation -- but Raina felt it in a rush right now. All of that time apart, only to be back by his side once again -- it seemed like until this moment, she had lived a horrible nightmare, and in some ways it truly was. Being in his arms was the most exquisite feeling, chasing away the years of loneliness and reminding her that here, in this world, Raina wasn't alone.

"I found my way to people like me. People with powers and abilities. A whole community -- similar to this one with the imPorts, if Heropa was set in a secluded Chinese village, perhaps.

"They kept me in darkness, locked away like the monster I appeared to be. No sunlight, no outside communication, no leaving. All I could do was sleep and dream. And because of that, it didn't take long to discover my clairvoyance back home. Once they realized I had a use, I was allowed to at least leave my building.

"Skye was there as well..." Raina's words were filled with disgust. "And she worked to hone her powers also. We coexisted, but she...as always...interfered with my agenda. For it is always Skye who will get the things I wish I could have. It is always Skye who will be there to take away the things I've tried to build for myself. She gets everything."

And then, resentfully: "Including this world."

Edited 2015-11-12 21:42 (UTC)

"Skye was there?" The aghast in his voice was compounded with the disdain he mirrored from Raina's own tone along with the agony he felt on behalf of Raina's suffering. To be locked away -- examined, or left to rot -- that was a horror he knew only from one perspective; it was a treatment saved for his patients back in Baltimore. The fact that such a thing could happen to his girlfriend, his most beloved, and that it had happened well beyond the control his fingertips could muster?

Unbearable. Chilton found that unbearable.

"What," choked out the psychiatrist, as he wrapped his fingers behind Raina's shoulder blades, securing her closer. "What influence is this Skye woman conjuring?"

It was easier, to focus on her. This Skye woman. It was easier to make her the magnet of his panic, his shock. The pain and indignity that Raina had to endure was etched into his bodily tremor, something she could likely feel while held against him.

His emotions were tangible. His care and concern all reserved for her -- because that was what it was in essence. Chilton was not an empathetic man, so his emotions would always be a bit more self-centered. But Raina had ensnared him in a way most could not. She was an extension of him, and so his emotions bled over for her. And she selfishly absorbed every single one of them, pressing close, her breath hitching and her own hands closing around the fabric of his suit.

"I ran into her just moments ago. She threatened to tell everyone of the things I've done back home. I imagine such an action would only make her look like a fool, but it will cause unneeded attention to me. To us. I would rather avoid such an outcome."

She pulled back her head so she could look at him. While Raina had no doubt in Chilton's loyalties; while she believed Chilton would always be by her side no matter what -- she wanted to ensure that Skye could not take the one thing she cared about; the most important thing in her life. She wanted to ensure Chilton hated Skye just as much as Raina did herself. "Frederick, you have to understand that her sole existence in my life is only to take the things I want or care about. And she doesn't take only from me. She takes from you as well. It is...for her sake...that I will die back home."

"She has minimal influence here -- and that in of itself is a generous assessment," he murmured to her as his hand stroked down her back. "But yes, I agree, it would be best if she spoke nothing of your name."

It disturbed him, this parallel. That Skye had returned just as Raina had returned. Chilton didn't enjoy the implications, and he eagerly left them unspoken -- after all, it was Raina who believed in fate. It was Raina who seemed to suffer for it.

"I have you now," said the psychiatrist, whispering it into her ear. Comforting, possessive, protective language.

"She cannot, she will not ruin you. She will not take you from me, Raina. I have you now."

It was comforting. Whether his words wound up being true or not, at least in the moment, she felt safe and secure -- she felt confident. Chilton was an extension of her mind, and all the clever and brilliant things she could come up with were multiplied tenfold when she could get his advice and his ideas. Raina believed that both she and Skye simply couldn't exist within the same world. That was why Raina will die eventually back home.

But she also had declared to Skye that this was her world. Nothing was going to take her from Chilton. And that feeling was mutual. Chilton would fight for this little scrap of happiness the two of them managed to find together. Perhaps this would be Raina's chance to see the monster lurking inside of Chilton come out to play. She could only hope.

"My perfect, brilliant man." Her palms came up and caressed his cheeks to his jaw. "Mine." And she leaned in to steal a kiss, possessive and wanting. She only separated when she needed air, but she took the chance to speak further. "You will come under her fire because of your association with me, you know. She already threatened me in regards to you -- threatened to weaponize you. But once she learns what we have is real, she may investigate you as well. So anything electronic -- tighten that. She is an extremely skilled hacker who will access whatever she can find of your records.

Don't delay in taking precautions and erasing any ghost of a trail you might have."

"The most concerning chink in any armor would be my patients themselves," he replied -- dutiful in his assessment. "But a few -- Kanaya, for instance -- a few are loyal to me. I have learned not to make enemies of everyone."

Unlike Crane, he added silently. There was no need to push the point with Raina, who understood Jonathan Crane very well. Chilton continued stroking up and down along his girlfriend's spine, hoping that the soft repetitive caress would ensure some mood mitigation.

"What about your projects? Could she possibly anticipate your behavior? What about anyone associated with your projects?"

That was certainly more the point of concern. Raina he could trust to be competent and capable. But her hired help? Maybe not so much, and maybe that was unfair of him. But Chilton knew Raina was the brains of her operation, and surely it was logical that any loose end fraying would be lower down the pyramid.

"And do we know about what powers she possesses? Is it something electronic?" Something that would calibrate her hacking abilities, he meant. There was a pattern to that, he had noticed, with technologically savvy individuals finding liberation in Porter-given electronic abilities. But the statistics that he possessed were only correlational. Causation was so much more difficult to prove.

Raina's irritation seized her face, and she ran her hands down along his arms before she detangled them from her. Sliding the lock into place, she then moved to his desk -- perching on the edge of it as she looked him up and down. "Skye already accused me of restarting the projects I was involved in back home. There is no evidence as we've only just begun. And the people involved are only a handful. You can trust them to be untrustworthy, lacking a moral compass. But the one thing they all have in common is the desire to not get caught. We have a mutual interest in keeping it going without interference.

"This project has the potential to be groundbreaking. And it will be something to build a name on for all those involved in it. I imagine, once I can get close enough to find the perfect candidate, certain members of the government will take particular interest and fund it. I'll have to find some angle to play -- a way closer to the government since the ambassadorship didn't pan out in my favor..."

Yeah. Raina was still slightly bitter over that one vote loss.

"As for Skye's powers -- she seemed shocked when she found out I had different abilities from home. So it leads me to believe she only has the one. And though it doesn't enhance her hacking skills, it is still dangerous. She can make earthquakes, essentially. Though, it's more than that. She controls the vibrations in the air. When we first ran into each other back home, she tried to kill me by crushing my internal organs."

At that point, Raina held out her hands for him because she couldn't stand not touching him for too long. "You don't have any patients who would side with her, do you? People who may have been good friends with her when she was here before? She will find any opening she can. And I fear Will Graham might be one of them."

He took her offered hands in his own, his palms quick to warm hers. The expression she wore tensed the muscles lining his spine -- he stood up straighter, eager to project a sort of columned solidarity that he wasn't necessarily known for. But Raina was the exception to the rule, because she was exceptional to him. Chilton squeezed his fingers around hers, reminding her of his physical immediacy.

"Why do you think that? About Will Graham?"

The first answer from his mouth was a question, and one that centered around Will Graham no less.

"He was gone, as well, you know. Exported. Newly returned. This has not been the easiest past month for me," said Chilton, quick to pivoted on the self-pity as he was. "But he came to me. Bloodied and battered, and he came to me before he would his wife."

Perhaps an odd comparison to draw, but nevertheless one factually true. Chilton said this with a puffed confidence, his arrogance exhibited on his smirk.

"I can't say that any of my patients would be prone to fondness for an earthquake-causing disruption of an individual, no. However, I've little doubt that Skye can wield an impressive display of sympathy -- I'll simply have to keep an eye on all my clientele."

Raina was slightly surprised to learn that Chilton had been largely alone -- because she viewed Will as something of a best friend to Chilton, their bond greater than even Jeff's and Will's. So to lose her and Will at roughly the same time did have to be difficult for him -- a man who, although he spent most of his life alone, had grown used to not being alone. The only benefit to this was that Raina could warn him before she ported out and let him know she would return. He wasn't left to believe she was going to disappear for good.

Her attention was captured by his capturing hands, and she squeezed them lightly. "You are favored by fate. Although she may take those closest to you from time to time, your strength and drive to carry on is rewarded with our return. This truly is your world, Frederick."

But for as much of a 'miracle' as it was that both parties returned, Raina read something further into Chilton's words about Will. An alarm went off in her mind because why else would he go to Chilton first before his own wife if it was not guilt of some kind? Fortune may favor Chilton in this world, but it did not back home.

But for the sake of his pride, for how pleased he looked about this, she didn't express her concern. Instead, she glanced past him. "Will Graham may favor you, yes. But does his favor extend to me? He was friends with Sky before I arrived in this world, and let's face it. My only connection to him is through you. Skye will tell him her version of the story -- she will tell him all about how manipulative and incapable of emotion I am. And I'm concerned he may take this to mean I am only using you and see me as a threat that needs removed."

There was a thoughtful pause before she confessed: "I have threatened to kill him for your sake, should he do something that endangered you or delivered you to Hannibal. And I'd like to hope that would serve as the unshakable evidence he needs to know my feelings toward you are genuine."

Edited 2015-11-27 03:11 (UTC)

"I don't think that Will Graham is a stranger to death threats. He likely didn't take it too personally," said Chilton. Smiling lightly, he leaned over to kiss her forehead; his approval spoke its dialect in his gentler embrace, but his delight went largely silenced. It was a flattering, enduring warmth to consider how Raina threatened Will over Chilton's safety. So enamored was he over the lengths she had taken, he didn't question anything he had confessed to her -- the content, the implication of Will coming to him before April. He wasn't afforded that second wind perspective that sometimes came along with speaking one's mind.

A psychiatrist, of all occupational breeds, could appreciate that insight.

"I'll be speaking to him regularly, as per usual. If Skye comes up, if he has any concerns, any parroted talk, I'll set him straight. But I do believe that otherwise independently raising her name might raise... Suspicion," he said, his lips now tracing Raina's outer ear. The promises he made were secondary. Chilton had other activities teasing his frontal cortex right now.

"Why don't we -- why not continue this conversation," he asked, his hand drawing down for one of hers again. "Somewhere more private? Perhaps, ah, back home?"

Raina allowed him to take her hand, and she nodded after his words. She had faith in him to protect her as far as Will was concerned. She could try to win Will over all she wanted, but the real ace up her sleeve was Chilton. Still, she was more than happy that the conversation had turned over to other pressing matters because it had been all she could do not to take him right then and there as soon as she stepped foot in the office. Self-control and restraint had only been possible because of the Skye frustration.

She took the hand she held and slipped it beneath her skirt -- resting it on heated skin of her thigh. "I was going to say...I hoped you would clear your schedule. It might have been two weeks for you, Frederick, but it's been two months for me. And my ache goes beyond want."

Back home, the lack of sexual encounters hadn't bothered her. She had far more pressing matters on her mind, and really -- given her condition, she doubted it possible any longer. But now that she was back and remembered what they had, she yearned and desired. It was an insatiable need that had to be quenched.

Raina pulled Chilton flush against her. She didn't leave her spot on his desk, and whether they continued on the desk or moved elsewhere was not at all her concern when she wrapped her arms around him and yanked him in for a deeply passionate kiss. The only thought she had was how much she needed to have him now. Their time apart would be more than made up this entire evening if she had her way.

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[CLOSED] for once upon a time from the vines of your holiness

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