thread Characters: Paige and Jono Where: Jono's theater What: Paige is real sick of this place and everyone in it. When: Day 14, afternoon Rating: idk, PG-13?
Since arriving here, to wherever this hell was, Paige had run through a gamut of emotions. Confusion, obviously; that had been her main state of being since the moment she landed. Fear, especially those first few nights anticipating a bug attack that didn’t come until she was no longer expecting it. Thrill and pride when she’d managed to finish the clinic. Anger and annoyance with some of the people around her.
She’d never felt useless until now, and it was far, far worse than the fear or the confusion or anything else she’d felt.
Sam was gone. Paige was barely able to admit it to herself. Disappearing was scary enough, but none of the people who’d vanished had been close to her. She questioned, and she wondered, but she’d never worried about them until now. With Sam, she couldn’t help it.
Sam was her brother, but their interactions had been few and far between. Both Tabby and Berto had been closer to her own sibling than she had been, and it had been partially her fault. He’d been busy with patrols, and she’d been busy with the clinic, and they hadn’t made much of an effort to spend any free time together. Paige had been so afraid of gaining family and then losing it that she’d kept her distance. In theory, that would have made Sam’s departure less painful. In reality, it only made her feel guilty.
Her comm stayed behind when she left her room that day, cracked on the floor from when she’d thrown it against the wall in a childish fit of frustration. She didn’t want to talk to anybody about how they were going to find the missing people. She didn’t want to hear about Jimmy Woo’s useless list of people that were gone or the fruitless search of the city or the new arrivals (how long were they going to last?). She didn’t give a damn about bugs or teams or the clinic or anything else people wanted to discuss.
Without even thinking about it, Paige made her way towards the theater Jono had set up as his home. Being alone with her thoughts was just as dangerous as talking to somebody else; she’d just fixate and drive herself crazy. Jono wouldn’t mind if she crashed his space, she told herself. Especially if she just wanted to be away from everybody else and their problems and their demands. She wouldn’t bother him.
She entered the theater without any trouble, easily spotting the damage the building had sustained during the bug attack. It hadn’t been too bad, all things considered, and she’d caused some of the damage herself by pulling up benches and chairs to barricade the doors against the insects. They had been lucky; if they’d stayed in the theater longer rather than going out to meet them in a fight, Paige didn’t doubt that the bugs would have tried to tear the building apart to try to get in, especially considering Jono’s powers. They’d been amazingly useful but also a beacon for the creatures, and she could see why he hadn’t wanted to share them with her earlier.
Jono wasn’t in the lobby of the building, so she headed into the auditorium, not wanting to trespass in the building without letting him know she was there. She couldn’t see him at first glance in the shadowy space. He was probably out, and it was just as well, considering the mood she was in…but she couldn’t help but be disappointed. She wandered in deeper, eventually lowering herself to sit in the front row, enjoying the quiet and darkness of the building. He’d find her eventually.