InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "Gottlegear, gottlegear,"

Jinksy (humanpolygraph) wrote in makebelievelog,
@ 2012-12-19 07:26:00

Entry tags:

claudia donovan, steve jinks

Who: Jinks and Claudia
What: Jinks is trying to get Claudia to open up about the things bothering her
Where: Their room
When: Backdated to Tuesday evening
Status: In Progress
Rating: Potential for WH13 feels so probably on the high side, also WH13 spoilers, read at your own risk.

Steve spent most of his day at the precinct worrying over the talk he was going to be having that evening with Claudia. He wanted to help her deal with the things bothering her but more than that, he felt that if she admitted them aloud, it would be a step into them not having so much of an affect over her. He wasn't the only one that had noticed her withdrawn here and there. He knew part of it was due to the Christmas holiday and them not being home. There was no Joshua here for her to pester.

At least she got him back he thought as he sat on the trolley, heading back for the castle. If he could, Steve would give just about anything for another minute with his sister. But there were no artifacts that could reverse death nor would he use them if he could. God only knew what kind of downside those artifacts had. But at least Steve had memories with her. Better than nothing.

Getting off at the stop for the castle, he made his way down the path to the stone structure, trying to think of how to word things so that Claudia would want to open up. The young woman was stubborn and full of spirit. But he was hoping that the fact she agreed to meet with him meant she wanted to discuss what was on her mind.

Moving through the familiar halls and up the steps, he soon reached their room and let a slow breath out. Here went everything. Pushing the door open, he walked in.

"Claudia?"

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clauds
2012-12-19 04:12 pm UTC (link)

Claudia had used an artifact to reverse death. She had used it on Steve or, rather, would use it on Steve. She didn't make the distinction in her mind because she had come from the point in time where it had already been a given in her mind. She probably shouldn't have by most people's standards, but she didn't care. Steve had needed brought back.

Even if having her surrogate brother around was something she wanted, at the moment she could have done without it. There had been an ominous and pressing feeling as the end of the day ticked closer and rather than focusing on her work, she had gone down to talk to someone in another department about a rumored position opening up. Claudia had taken a programming job far below her skill level on purpose; she had wanted extra time, least effort possible, with maximum pay. Now she was contemplating using up a bit more time and putting forward more effort for the sake of a notable raise in pay. She was playing the "become well adjusted" game. She had been employed for a long time, she was in the process of car shopping, and her life didn't involve doom and weird. Usually.

With the glimpse into the world back home and Claudia having known about it first out of the Warehouse people, no one could've blocked Claudia from the T.V. show and finding out what happened. She had a driving need to know, to know how things were and if everyone was okay. Except she knew... details. She knew details about the upcoming season and the fact that everyone couldn't be okay, that things couldn't all be okay. She knew better than to spill those details to anyone. She had already looked up the next season online for "spoilers" on her own life. Claudia kept telling herself that it would be the ultimate party pooper thing to do if she shared any details. Who wanted that hanging over their head at Christmas?

Not that what they mostly knew was any better. Everyone at the Warehouse had actually had a family before the Warehouse. Steve had his mother and Olivia. Myka had her parents and Tracy. Pete had his mom, sister, and dad when he was little. H.G. had her family - way, way back when - and Christina... though the loss of the important part of her family had driven her off the edge of a cliff. Claudia had been fascinated to watch the show and see that it had been getting a new family, getting Myka, which had seemingly brought H.G. back to a state where she could be happy. It was an idea Claudia could relate to, given the fact the Warehouse family had become a group of people who meant the world to her.

Outside of the Warehouse, Claudia had Joshua and she had lost Joshua for most of her life. She hadn't had anyone long-term before the Warehouse besides Joshua. Then there had been everyone and - Artie. Artie had become like her father and hearing him say that he had never loved her, that she would never be a woman, that she was the worst person out of any of them had been ripping her foundation out from under her. She knew she stabbed Artie, that it saved him from being possessed... to being infected by a plague and to dealing with mass trauma if everyone survived given the fact he had killed Leena. But those words kept ringing in her ears and bringing questions to her mind about who she was as a person. Given the lack of Warehouse and "normal" lifestyle she had been working to adjust to, most of her skills were irrelevant to the group. She didn't know what the dynamics were anymore and couldn't help but feel like, sometimes, she was viewed as a child by people. It wasn't just the Warehouse people, but as a whole. For a young woman who craved to know that she was loved, it was tearing at something inside of her.

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clauds
2012-12-19 04:12 pm UTC (link)

It didn't help that she had looked up "Todd," or the guy that "played" him, and realized he wasn't coming back. He had been cast as someone on Glee and would be dancing around and singing instead of ever coming back to Univille, South Dakota. Minimal, but just icing on the cake.

However, it was Christmas; the time she loved and loved to spend with her family. She didn't want to let it ruin things. She had wanted all of her family happy! She didn't even know how to approach it at this stage without sounding like she was whining far after the fact. She had been told to stop watching the show by a friend or two when she had admitted what she saw bothered her. Another had told her to grit her teeth and smile when people went on optimistically about it and didn't want to face it realistically, so Claudia had done that. Steve was asking her to not be a socially awkward freakazoid for a few minutes and to actually talk, but she wasn't sure how she should do that and not bring Steve down poopypants style.

So when Steve came in, Claudia had her wireless headphones on and rock music was blaring out of them almost loud enough that he probably could've heard the words if he had tried, though the song was in the midst of a drum solo. There was a receiver plugged into her laptop that was transmitting to the headphones and the laptop was sitting over on the small dining area table. Claudia was sitting on the floor next to the coffee table, tinkering with something with a teeny screwdriver. She didn't look up from her project, not having heard Steve.

Roan did hear Steve and the dog perked up, getting up from where he had unceremoniously flopped down on the floor and walking over to greet the human. Roan's tail was wagging and his tongue was sticking out of his mouth in a rather dopey looking greeting.