InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "Star Gentle Uterus!"

Fred Burkle (notjustageek) wrote in colligo_threads,
@ 2009-09-24 19:06:00

Entry tags:

!open

Who: Fred and Cassie
What: Shopping
Where: Grocery store
When: Afternoon
Rating: TBD
Status: Incomplete

Fred stared at the bags of chips that lined the shelf in front of her but she didn't see a single bag. Her mind had drifted as it had been doing more and more lately, since fear had taken hold of the apartment complexes. It had started with the nightmare, a shapeless, featureless spectre, telling her that she couldn't escape. That it would find her wherever she went. Then it had become more defined. Her but not her. The her that her friends must have seen. Illyria.

Since then, it almost felt like the apartment had become a little more tense. Her curiosity nagged at her to ask Wesley what Illyria had been like, if she could cross dimensions, but she didn't want him to worry more. The Old One couldn't get to her here, could she? They were in a different dimension completely and she was kept with the other Old Ones. It was near impossible, although the life that Fred had come to know while working with Angel, Cordelia, Wesley, Charles, and Lorne had taught her that nothing was impossible.

She finally selected a bag of Sun Chips and dropped them into the basket, turning away. Down the aisle, her attention drifted to the display, enough that she didn't see the other person until she bumped into them. With a surprised yelp, Fred jumped back, dropping her basket in the process. "I'm so sorry!" she exclaimed.

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freakgirl
2009-09-25 03:18 am UTC (link)

"Oh!" Cassie exclaimed. She had been preoccupied with thoughts that she was beginning to have that seemed to be along the lines of what everyone else in town had to deal with. It wasn't quite something that she wanted to relive, but her war memories hadn't completely subsided before coming here. Perhaps that was why she was coping so reasonably well. Sleep, however, was becoming less of a regularly occurring event, so when she realized that she needed food, Cassie was nearly in a zombie-esque state when she went to get it. So she couldn't say for sure whether it was her fault or the other woman's. "No, I'm sorry! I wasn't really paying attention."

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notjustageek
2009-09-25 03:53 am UTC (link)

She had been convinced that the run in had been her fault, with the sharp corner turn and the not paying attention. Even if the other woman hadn't been paying attention, Fred still held herself accountable for not doing so. "That makes two of us," she said sheepishly as she crouched to pick up the basket.

"I didn't make you spill or drop anything, did I?" She quickly scanned the floor around her feet for any sign of destroyed groceries, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

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	freakgirl 2009-09-25 07:42 am UTC (link)
	Cassie smiled at the woman, shaking her head. "Nope. I was just...actually I was a bit caught in my own thoughts. I should've been shopping for groceries, though." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

notjustageek
2009-09-25 11:44 am UTC (link)

Fred gave her a warm smile as she stood up again, the basket held in front of her. "Me too. I can't seem to focus on the list I made up. Maybe if I just winged it, it would be more interesting." She laughed but it sounded forced and tired to her own ears. Stupid nightmares.

She held out her hand. "Hi, I'm Fred. I don't usually run people over but when I do, I feel bad when I do it to people I don't know."

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	freakgirl 2009-09-25 10:17 pm UTC (link)
	"I know what you mean." Cassie hadn't made a list and thought winging it would be fine, but she wasn't quite able to keep on task at all. Her lips quirking slightly, Cassie smiled fully at the woman, taking her hand. Not many people shook hands. "Hi, Fred. Nice to meet you. I'm Cassie." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

notjustageek
2009-09-26 12:32 am UTC (link)

"It's very nice to meet you as well, Cassie," she replied. So bumping into someone wasn't so unfortunate after all. She seemed nice and talking to someone who didn't know about Illyria and the weirdness that was Fred's life kind of helped take her mind off of it all.

"I don't mean to pry but are you one of the displaced people? Because you seem kind of familiar in the 'I haven't met you but I think I've seen your name somewhere before' kind of way." She wrinkled up her nose thoughtfully. "The message boards maybe?"

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	freakgirl 2009-09-26 02:22 am UTC (link)
	Cassie smiled. Meeting someone new was good to keep her mind off everything. Also, it was nice to meet people. Cassie didn't personally know too many people in town. "I am, yeah. Probably the message boards unless you frequent the animal hospital or the high school." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	notjustageek 2009-09-26 02:47 am UTC (link)
	Fred shook her head. "Just the message boards. I work at one of the bookstores in town." She paused for a moment, thinking over her choice, and then pulled the bag of chips out of her basket to put back on the shelf. "They just don't sound as good as I thought they would," she explained and shrugged. "How are you liking Colligo?" (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

freakgirl
2009-09-28 12:51 am UTC (link)

Cassie looked at the chips with a smile. It was so odd to be thinking about things like chips again with such normality. "Working at a bookstore sounds nice."

How was she liking Colligo? Well. It was nice to not be in an active war. But it wasn't exactly fun in her book to find out some of the things that had happened since her time. "It's...confusing and complicated." That was putting it mildly. "I miss home, but except this whole demon thing, it didn't seem too terrible here." The dreams were really getting to Cassie.

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notjustageek
2009-09-28 06:01 pm UTC (link)

"It is, but then I love books. It probably is really boring if you don't. As far as jobs go, at least I got something I like doing," she said, trying to end the sentence so as not to go off on a full on ramble.

At the mention of the demon, Fred gave her a sympathetic look. "I know the feeling," she replied. "It doesn't seem all that bad here but then things happen. This time is worse than what I've seen since I was here and that includes my boyfriend becoming all wee." She held her hand at the level that child Wesley had come too. "But someone will fix it. They always do." No, they didn't, but she was optimistic.

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	freakgirl 2009-09-29 01:56 am UTC (link)
	Cassie smiled. "I know what you mean. I like working at the animal hospital. It reminds me of home a bit." It certainly wasn't the farm she'd grown up on, but being around the animals was nice. Her eyes widened. "Your boyfriend became tiny?" Cassie sort of envied Fred's seeming optimism. Hers had nearly been beaten out of her. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	notjustageek 2009-09-29 02:37 am UTC (link)
	"It's a great feeling, isn't it?" Even if it didn't quite carry the satisfaction that working for Angel Investigations had given her, she still loved it. Fred nodded. "Yeah. When there were alternate selves and older selves and younger selves? He turned younger." She laughed. "He was so adorable but I'm glad he's normal sized again." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	freakgirl 2009-10-01 12:22 am UTC (link)
	"It is," Cassie smiled. "I mean, not the same, but still nice." And working with animals was exactly what Cassie needed. Cassie's eyes widened. "That's...wow! That's completely mind-boggling." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

notjustageek
2009-10-01 02:42 am UTC (link)

"Yeah, it was..." She tilted her head, not sure how to describe it. "The whole event was unlike anything I'd ever seen before. I feel weird admitting it but it was very interesting, seeing the differences just changing one moment in someone's history could make, you know? That and the kids were adorable, although their adult selves probably didn't think so."

"So," she said, leaping to the next topic. "Where are you from, Cassie? Before Colligo adopted you," she joked.

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freakgirl
2009-10-01 02:57 am UTC (link)

Cassie nodded. "Sounds like life in Colligo is no less interesting than back home." She'd seen a lot of things that were out of the normal. But nothing quite so benevolent as that. Not that Cassie thought it was all benevolent, but compared to a race of alien slugs trying to invade your planet, it sort of made most things seem that way.

"Um." Cassie paused for a long moment. They'd gotten so used to not telling last names, places, things like that. Anything that could get them caught. But this place...there were no Yeerks. There wasn't even a way back. "Sorry. I'm just...not used to telling most people...well, anything about me at all. California."

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notjustageek
2009-10-01 03:16 am UTC (link)

"You must have had a very interesting home." That did seem to be the case of a good number of Colligo's adopted population, which Fred felt made for a little bit of comraderie between them all. That also could have been her wishful thinking.

Her eyes grew a little wider. "Oh! You don't have to tell me if you don't want. I'm sorry, I just threw that out there without thinking." She blushed slightly. "I'm not trying to pry, honest. But I'm from California too. Well, Texas, but I've lived the past couple of years in Los Angeles."

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	freakgirl 2009-10-01 04:26 am UTC (link)
	"Interesting is one way to put it," Cassie smiled in return. She shook her head. "No, I need to get used to not containing so much. It's not the middle of a war here. There aren't aliens trying to invade everyone's brains." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

notjustageek
2009-10-01 05:09 am UTC (link)

Fred still wasn't used to aliens being real, despite having been a conspiracty theorist in high school. Then again, she'd adjusted to demons and vampires fast, more out of necessity for survival than anything else, but she had. Given enough time, she'd believe what was thrown at her here too.

"That sounds really...not fun," she finished lamely although the sentiment was genuine. "I'm sorry."

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freakgirl
2009-10-02 05:37 am UTC (link)

Cassie smiled slightly. "Yeah, no. Not that much fun. A couple of my friends from home are here which helps, but there are still some of my friends from back home who..." she trailed off. She didn't know how to describe and then Rachel. Rachel wasn't exactly around in Cassie's immediate future. It wasn't something that Cassie could push from her thoughts often. "Thanks though."

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notjustageek
2009-10-02 11:49 am UTC (link)

That she understood all too well. Wesley's story of the future for her that she went through was the source of her terror. "I'm lucky, I guess. I've got a couple of my friends here too. It really does help."

She paused, thought about it again, and picked up the bag of chips and dropped it into the basket. There. Mind made up. "Well, I supposed I should let you get to your shopping. I keep talking and keep you from it."

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	freakgirl 2009-10-03 05:18 pm UTC (link)
	She nodded. "It's nice to have some friends here that I know." Even if Tobias was from before when Cassie was and Marco from after. "Sure. It was nice meeting you," Cassie smiled sincerely. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	notjustageek 2009-10-03 08:28 pm UTC (link)
	"Exactly." She reached out to touch Cassie briefly on the arm. "It was very nice meeting you as well." And she meant that. The conversation had taken her mind off of things for a while, a blessed relief. "Thank you." She started off down the aisle, turning to wave as Cassie one last time before she turned the corner. (Reply to this) (Parent)