Catherine Raines and Gwenhwyfar Carey
September 24, 2005 11:22 PM
Here's a pretty state of things...[Alumni Day] by Catherine Raines and Gwenhwyfar Carey
OOC: Since GwenThere were a lot of things Catherine Elizabeth Raines did not like to do. She didn't like being around her mother. She didn't like being around her mother's pet mudblood. She didn't like being around said mudblood's daughter. She didn't like being around people of social classes lower than her own. She didn't like going to class or looking stupid once she got there. She didn't like doing homework. She would have gladly done any one of them rather than make her prompt appearance at the entranceway of the Labyrinth Gardens to "talk" to one of her fellow Crotali, also known as a mental patient in the making, also known as a mudblood-lover, also known as one of her greatest if not her greatest enemy, also known as Gwenhwyfar Carey.
She didn't know why she was here. Alasdair Carey had made it plain that she, not Gwenhwyfar, was in charge of things between them. There was no reason in the world why she should do as Gwenhwyfar Carey told her to. The other girl had looked and sounded like a broken reed when she was escorted to Charms by that Stephen person, had sounded like Catherine was a real threat to her. Catherine could have laughed her down with no problem or reprimand. She could have at least made her contempt for Miss Carey known. The only provision she had made to having this...discussion...was to insist that it be on what she considered to be her turf, the Labyrinth. This was where she came to be alone, which made it seem oddly appropriate.
Gwenhwyfar had beaten her to the agreed spot. It wasn't really a surprise. If Catherine had been a neurotic who heard her father tell her she probably would be disowned before Christmas today, she doubted she would have been too keen on eating, either. Catherine couldn't help but be relieved that Gwenhwyfar seemed to have calmed down considerably over the course of the day, though her apparent serenity looked and felt a little...off. She did't look up as Catherine approached, or give any other sign she was aware of anyone else until Catherine spoke, more roughly than she had meant to.
"Well, I'm here. What d'you want?"
Gwenhwyfar smiled, looking more...friendly, Catherine supposed....than she had ever looked in the time Catherine had known her. "So you are, Cate," she said, with a wry look that let Catherine know exactly why her name had been shortened. It made a sick kind of sense. Gwenhwyfar was trying to become Alasdair, and part of that was making Charles Raines' daughter into him....changing Catherine into Charley. If Catherine had been merely part politically submissive Raines, she would have gone along with it, but she was half Robinond. The Robinonds of Louisiana had nothing if not pride, and it was that trait that encouraged some of Catherine's less politically astute actions. She wouldn't be Gwenhwyfar Carey's lackey as she attempted to recreate the past. Gwenhwyfar was still talking.
"What happened today wasn't what you think," Gwenhwyfar was saying calmly. " You didn't see and hear what you think you saw and heard."
"It all looked pretty clear to me, Gwen," Catherine replied, a mocking edge to her voice. Calling the other girl 'Gwen' as opposed to 'Gwenhwyfar' was the only way Catherine could see to show that the whole Alasdair-and-Charley recreation wasn't going to work out, short of mirroring Gwenhwyfar's own commoness and saying it outright. "You showed the whole school that you're a few cards short of a deck, drove away all your friends, embarrassed yourself and your family in public, found out you're probably going to be disowned, got backhanded, and got comforted by one of your mudblood pals." She went through the list of accusations quickly, and was gratified to see that it still made Gwenhwyfar flinch. She was much less gratified by Gwenhwyfar's reply
"I wouldn't expect you to understand the Careys, Cate," Gwenhwyfar said cooly. "After all, no one's ever accused the Raines' of being anything more than common bootleggers who lucked out when it came to marriages. And the marriages weren't that spectacular, anyway. The Forwynts might be old and they might even hold some power in their little mapdot, but they're nothing but one-manor Yankees when it comes right down to it. I don't know who the poor girl who got stuck with your father was, but I seriously doubt she was much of anything."
It took Catherine a long moment to sufficiently overcome insulted shock to reply. "My mother is a Robinond," she nearly shouted. "Lila Robinond, if you must know. And at least the other half of my genes doesn't come from a family so unimportant that no one would even know who they are if they didn't turn out at least four or five lunatics every generation." Gwenhwyfar's eyes widened with shock.
"Well," the other girl said after a moment. "That does change things."
"Why?" Catherine said defensively. "Not like she's anything to you."
"Actually," Gwenhwyfar said, almost apologetically, "she is. My grandmother's full name is Eileen Robinond Carey-St.Martin. Lila Robinond - your pardon, Lila Raines - is my fourth cousin, I think." Catherine stared. It was the only thing she was capable of doing at the moment. This was even worse than her father knowing Alasdair Carey. At least her father wasn't blood kin to Alasdair Carey, unless there was something else she didn't know about. This had to be the official worst day of her life.
"If you dare tell anyone we're related - " Catherine managed, but Gwenhwyfar, who, incredibly, seemed to have the upper hand in all this, cut her off.
"You'll what? Let's not go into the whole pureblood-threats area of it. We're not so different. I'm what you could have been, and you're what I should have been, albeit with fewer complications. We're both eleven and female. Neither one of us has as much control over our lives as a dog, and for all our talk, neither one of us or any of the others can do anything important at all. I asked you to talk to me tonight because of that. I need to know where we stand."
"I can ruin you," Catherine said feebly. "I saw you with Anne Wright and some mudblood in the library that day. I could use that."
"Catherine darlin',all my old ex-friends are probably going to make sure any scrap of a reputation I have left goes down the drain. After the scene with Daddy dearest and my supposed betrayal of my unit, it's small potatoes as to whether or not I'm doing whatever you think it is I'm doing with a muggleborn. Answer the question."
"I have to look out for myself," Catherine said, not looking at Gwenhwyfar. At her only-moderately-distant cousin. This was terrible. Gwenhwyfar's reputation was already it tatters, and Catherine's would follow if anyone found this out. "I don't dare make a wrong move."
"Of course not," Gwenhwyfar said impatiently. "I didn't mean that our public enmity should change. I was talking about terms of reality, Cate. I'd prefer it if we could endure these periodic chit-chats without any face-clawing invovled. Besides, there's the future to think of. I expect to be on top by the time we enter fourth year. I'll remember those who help me now." It didn't take a genius to see the alliance offer through the careful mix of sarcasm and confidence, and Catherine saw it very clearly.
"I can be civil if you can," she said finally.
"Good," Gwenhwyfar said, sounding oddly sincere. "I don't really like fighting, you know. You can call me Gwen without the mockery in private now." It was tossed out like a favor. Catherine's teeth ground together.
"I still don't like you," she grumbled.
Gwenhwyfar looked her straight in the eye. "Well, I don't especially like you, either."
"I'm going in."
"Go on. I'll be along in a few minutes. Wouldn't look right for us to come in together." Catherine left without further ado, leaving Gwen standing there, her eyes dropping to her clasped hands. She looked up to the sky, still unused to a sunset without clouds.
She knew that the feeling she had now wouldn't last. Gwen had long since noticed her tendency to mentally switch sides and viewpoints on what might have been called an incident-by-incident basis, and she knew that she never stood a chance of making her way into Sonora's pureblood circles. She had been lying when she predicted her social success to Catherine. She was down, and it would take an effort and determination she didn't know if she had in her to get up again. Reacceptance by her old allies was the best she could hope for unless something unexpected happened. For now, however, she was alone underneath a dimming desert sky without clouds, feeling like a pureblood - like a Carey - for the first time in months.
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Catherine Raines and Gwenhwyfar Carey
Here's a pretty state of things...[Alumni Day]
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Catherine Raines and Gwenhwyfar Carey
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