Set before the Dean possesses Laura. Ramblings to avoid job applications. Carmilla/Dean non-romantic. Short J.
The office of the Dean was a spacious, well planned out room with a large desk, sweeping drapes, a sofa and old books lining the walls. Waiting outside, Carmilla tried to assess what mood her Mother was in; sniffing outside of the door she tensed as she smelt the angry waves radiating off her Mother's body. She half debated running but quickly realised that would be a foolish plan, she had nowhere to hide, nowhere Mother couldn't find her. She braced herself, taking a deep breath but just as she reached for the door handle she heard the Dean's voice ring out from inside the room.
'Carmilla! I called for you half an hour ago and you've just been standing outside my office sniffing for the last five minutes. My patience is wearing thin.'
At the sound, Carmilla jumped and immediately opened the door, sliding herself inside. She hated the feeling of fear that erupted in her stomach when she knew Mother was angry. The bubbling pit that made her feel nauseous.
She stood with her hands clasped behind her back, every nerve on high alert. What if Mother knew she was planning to retrieve the sword? What if she realised her daughter was hoping to end her? What if she knew about her feelings for Laura? Oh God! Laura! She'd left her alone in the dorm-room!
As Carmilla's thoughts ran into over-drive she noticed that her Mother was leaning over her old-school computer with furrowed brows. She barely acknowledged her daughter's entrance into the room, simply waved a hand, beckoning her over.
'Carmilla the damn thing has gone bust again! What in Lucifer's name does it mean when it says "cannot connect to the internet"? I can actually see the wires connecting it to the Internet-box. It's lying to me Carmilla.'
Carmilla felt the tension in her body instantly evaporate. Tonight wouldn't be the night she and her, she hesitantly called them, 'friends' would be eviscerated into nothing. Tonight was the night Mother had computer troubles.
'Mother' she drawled 'I've told you before, nobody uses wires to connect these things anymore. It's all done wirelessly, if you'd just get the laptop like I suggested –'
'Oh please Carmilla do not start up with all this new-fangled mumbo-jumbo again. I cannot be dealing with all these passing fads, I just have to hope this one dies out quickly. Like those God-awful "running-men"'
'… the Walk-man?'
'Whatever. Fix it'
Carmilla moved round to the other side of the desk and scanned her Mother's computer. Truth be told she wasn't particularly clued up on modern-day technology, that was more Laura or the Biology major's cup of tea. Despite this, she asked the Dean where the router was in the hopes that restarting it would solve the problem.
'The what?' Mother asked, a look of consternation crossing her otherwise impenetrable face.
'The router Mother, it connects your computer to the Internet'
'Oh the Internet-box! It's over there.' She pointed to the router, which lay on its side below the desk.
'Did you…did you kick this over?'
'I didn't bring you here to judge my rage-coping techniques darling, can you fix this or not?'
Carmilla sighed and delved below the desk, quickly restarting the router and resurfacing to see if it was now working. A quick 'refresh' of the homepage was enough to convince her that the problem was solved and she turned to her Mother, signalling that her computer was working again.
'Wonderful! Well done diamond, one day I have a mind to ring up these "Internet" people, find out where they live and sacrifice their entire families'
The Dean bestowed upon her daughter a rare smile which Carmilla was disgusted to feel still warmed her inside. Despite everything she knew her Mother had done to her personally and to others, she was still the woman who rescued her from death, who taught her and made her powerful.
'You're welcome Mother' Carmilla whispered, accepting the champagne flute of high quality blood she was offered.
She stayed in that office for about an hour. Talking about the old days. About the dances and balls they had attended and the spectacular fights they had been involved in during the Vampire-Witch War of 1956. Carmilla smiled softly as her mother reminisced that Midas 'wasn't a bad man, just foolish' and that what happened to him was 'regrettable but ultimately lucrative' for her.
When Carmilla left to return to her dorm she took the long route back. It was days like these that made her almost regret what she knew she had to do.
Almost.