WHO: Eliza and Anja Weiss WHEN: Monday, during the storm. WHERE: The Inn SUMMARY: Anja decides to check in on Eliza and talk responsibility things. WARNINGS: Mom feels
Finals had arrived early in the week, over-nighted by one of her more responsible and trustworthy TAs, but the lack of electricity was making it difficult for Anja to fulfill the duties of being a Professor, and she wondered if there were significant ethical difficulties with having simply let her TAs do them? Unfortunately, she had them, which put them squarely in her responsibility unless she took the time to send them back.
She frowned at handwriting that was only semi legible even if it had been full-daylight, and there had been electricity in the room. Without those things - she was just tired.
She put them to the side, wished for a coffee, or a tea, but despite having an electric kettle and instant coffee in her room, she had no way to heat the water. Anja raised her hand to her forehead and stood up to stretch, heading towards the door. She would see what Eliza was up to.
Eliza was seated by her window, watching the rain pour down. The brief flashes of lightning illuminated, giving her reflection in the glass and lighting up the town below. They were brief glimpses, ones Eliza sketchy down despite the dark. It wasn’t clear, wasn’t necessarily good, but it was an impression. An impression of a wild force that none of them could control.
Anja had knocked on the door before sticking her head in. "Eliza?"
It was difficult to not be frustrated, or a little moody with the weather and the combination of no electricity. It felt odd to her that they had been without it for so long, also. Yes, it was still raining, but it just seemed as if it ought to have been fixed by this point.
"How are you doing?"
She heard her mother but Eliza kept her eyes on the window for now. Sometimes, if she looked hard enough, she could pretend she saw monsters out there. Shades darting between the lightning strikes and raindrops. Maybe they were only real when it rained.
“Fine. I miss netflix.” she shrugged.
Anja had not even thought about Netflix during the time that she had arrived too busy had she been sorting out whether Eliza felt alright, and whether or not she'd be in a good place to keep working, and Harrison, and then of course finishing up those things that needed to be dealt with from her own work at home. But perhaps Eliza just didn't feel one hundred percent. That was understandable.
"Do you have any books with you?"
Not that it was easy to read in the dark.
“Harrison brought some.” Eliza turned towards her mother, setting down her notebook for now. There would be other rainstorms.
"Any that are interesting?" Anja asked, trying to keep her thoughts on Harrison's possible book picks to herself. She supposed they were all classics for a reason, but there was a lot of 'thinking about thinking', that had no particular use unless you were maybe going to direct it into law or something.
“Philosophy stuff.” Eliza looked over at the stacked piles. “Ones a romance novel. I put the book jacket on that one. So one day he'll get a surprise.”
A laugh escaped Anja's lips at that revelation. "I hope you're around to enjoy it," she told her daughter.
She glanced outside of the window. "You know I knew it rained in the Seattle area, but this is really…" she waved a hand. "I was supposed to be working on finishing up grading finals, but it's difficult enough to focus when there is light. I suppose we should be glad that it is not summer yet and we are not living without air conditioning in a heat-wave."
“It reminds me of home.” Eliza offered quietly as her eyes trailed back to the rain. California was always so sunny. She had never really gotten used to it.
Anja hadn't thought of it quite that way, but she supposed she could now that it had been mentioned. "We usually had electricity," she mused, offering her daughter a smile. "As I recall, even though it was a very long time ago."
“Usually.” Eliza agreed every as the storm pattered against the glass, a steady thunk of water against solid mass. “Are you done grading?”
"Sadly no," she shook her head. "I will get back to it eventually, but I thought I would see how you are handling this. I suppose it's a bit of a forced break from filming, isn't it? Will this put you terribly behind schedule when you finish?"
“We've already had delays due to the weather.” Eliza took a seat on the bed and motioned for her mother to join. “So probably.”
Anja smiled, and came to join her daughter. "I hope that it won't put too much extra work on you then," she said, waiting a moment as she kicked off her shoes to pull her feet up on the bed. "I'm sure you'll be up to the challenge if it does." Although. She was still early in the pregnancy, and she was young, everything was likely fine.
“That's my job.” Eliza waited for her mother to settle onto the bed. Once she had Eliza's head found its place against her mother’s shoulder.
Anja reached over and ran her fingers across her daughter's hair, letting it rest for a minute. It was her job and Anja didn't want to keep her from doing it. Of course she also wanted her to take care of herself.
"What sort of things do they have you doing?"
Eliza's body seemed to melt as soon as her mother's hand found her hair. There was an easy comfort, natural and perfect that seemed to let tension slip from her muscles. She wondered if maybe this was something to mothers. Maybe it was just hers.
“Coffee runs, errands, setup, fetching, pretty much catch all.”
"It'll keep you busy," Anja submitted neutrally, trying not to worry. What was setup? Would it be too physical. Perhaps she'd be done with most of this before she got too far along. "Will you have regular appointments with the doctor here?"
“Busy’s good, means they need me.” If they would give her the work, she would do it. If she proved somehow valuable then when it become unable to be hidden maybe that’d lessen any blowback. Because it would be there. “Yeah. I mean. She seems nice.”
"Has she delivered many babies?" Anja asked. "It's not so far over to Seattle," she suggested, perhaps a bit more tentatively than was her norm. "We could spend one of the days you have off looking into Birth Centers and such in the city, if you'd like. I would drive over with you."
Eliza just shrugged, because she had never asked. The doctor had mentioned finding one. Maybe there would be a referral. But she tilted her head up at her mother’s next suggestion. “Birthing centers?”
Anja nodded. She'd done a bit of research on the Internet before it had petered out. "They're more comfortable than hospital rooms, more homey, and there are several very good ones in Seattle I think."
“Sounds like a place where they house you like dogs.” Eliza smirked, but curled in closer to her mother. “Wau Wau”
Anja snorted a huff of laughter. "It is nothing like dogs, and you should hope it is not a litter you carry." But she pulled her arm around her daughter. It had been a while since she had held her like this, and she had missed it. Perhaps more than she had realized until this moment. "We have a bit of time but you can think on it." Thunder rolled and her gaze moved to the outside for an instant before she asked. "Have you considered the apartment more?"
“If they are twins I think I have to give them to a gingerbread witch.” she mused but Eliza liked the sound of we, even if it just meant that her mother would stay. That her mother still wanted her and would hold her close. Maybe not proud, but that could be worked on. Being wanted was enough. “Euphemia brought it up.”
Anja raised an eyebrow, but this was just one of Eliza's many quirks that she didn't entirely understand. Both of her children would throw her loops like this and perhaps Eliza's were at least the most sensible? Or not, it was unclear. "Did she? I still think it's a good idea, although I'd also thought that perhaps I should look into it, and you could keep the room here at the Inn. But we'd have the apartment for those days when you needed a home cooked meal, or to get a way for a bit." She tapped a finger on Eliza's shoulder. "There are options."
She swayed slightly at the tap, more a put on reaction than an actual need to move from pressure. But that was an option. Her mother getting a place would lend some freedom while still allowing them to stay at the Inn to remain close to the crew. If that was what Harrison wanted too. “I’ll think on it.”
That was as much as Anja could really ask for right now. And it was something. They had a bit of time before it would probably be truly nice to have the space an apartment could offer. It was also partially selfish of Anja to offer, because she was feeling a bit claustrophobic at the Inn herself. And missing the ability to cook her own food. "Do that, I don't think we'll do anything until they get the power back, which hopefully is by tomorrow," she trailed off. "I need to get grades in and I'd rather not have to make it to Seattle in all this."
“Act of spiteful god. Or ghosts. That's a good excuse.” One she had attempted at least once growing up. But this seemed like a legitimate time to use such an excuse. Eliza watched her mother's face in the darkness. “You're staying?”
"Mmm," Anja agreed, although there were still details to be worked through. "I believe my summer classes are going to be online, which I can do here as well as there, so long as we get better Internet."
Eliza settled back down, quiet for a long beat in the darkness. Her arms curled around her mother, hugging onto her gently. “Okay.” Was what she said, her her eyes closed for a moment and she almost smiled.