Beatrice Rodríguez (busybea_) wrote in remains_rpg, @ 2016-05-25 18:35:00 |
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The thing about Bea and Dani being roommates was, they had their own thing going and didn’t actually see each other that much, so when they did it was kind of a novelty. It made it easy for Bea to never get annoyed in any case, but that wasn’t actually too difficult for someone as easy going as her. However, at Pete’s request to check up on Dani, Bea decided that he wouldn’t have asked it he didn’t think something was wrong and therefore it was totally okay for her to get up in Dani’s business more than usual. Plus, it would be kind of nice to focus on someone else’s problems right now because if she started thinking about Kitty or Maizie’s mom, she could easily go on a bender. Entering their room, and seeing Dani already in her pajamas, Bea tilted her head and said, “Hey roomie, you look so super busy that you can’t have dinner with Pete tonight.” Sitting cross-legged on her bed when Bea entered, Dani looked up from the textbook she’d been unproductively staring at for the past 45 minutes and grimaced at the observation. She’d known that at some point she was going to have to answer for ducking out of dinner, but having Pete enlist Bea to investigate the situation had been unexpected. She closed the book and set it next to her on the bed, rubbing a hand across her forehead. By the time she managed to convince herself to get out of bed again after her experience, the make-up she’d put on that morning had been ruined. So Dani was not only greeting her roommate in her pajamas at such as early hour, but she was doing it bare-faced as well. At least the last time she’d had a chance to glance in the mirror her eyes had looked less bloodshot, her features less drawn with distress. “I wasn’t feeling well.” Technically not a lie, although her ailment was not a physical one. “After leaving the lab early, I weighed the options and thought it was better to stay in rather than risk inflicting anything on Pete.” “If you’re getting sick it seems like you absolutely should have met up with Pete. He is a doctor, in case you forgot,” Bea replied matter-of-factly as she stepped further into the room, toeing off her shoes before sitting on her own bed. “Do you think it’s contagious? Should I go get one of those face masks so I don’t contract your illness?” She continued, at least pretending to play along with Dani’s excuse for the time being. In Bea’s medical opinion, however, she thought her roommate looked fine… if a little slobby looking in her lounging clothes and without any makeup on her face. “I really don’t think that’s necessary,” Dani replied, resisting the urge to roll her eyes. Whether Bea was being sincere or was simply goading her, Dani wasn’t entirely sure, but for once in her life she refused to rise to the bait. Her day was already a shambles, and she had no desire to wrap it all up by provoking a disagreement with her roommate. She looked down at her hands instead and made a show of studying her nails as though unconcerned. “If you’re worried, however, I’ll simply remain on my side of the room for the rest of the evening. In fact, I intend to turn in early.” Dani brushed some invisible speck of something off her nails and onto the fabric of her pants, and continued to avoid looking at Bea again. She’d already confessed everything to Max in texts that afternoon, and that had been hard enough. Really, Dani would have preferred to forget her experience entirely. The fact that she couldn’t was a source of some frustration. Bea just pursed her lips in disapproval. It wasn’t like Dani was ever super sharing but this was weirder than normal. She was all frumpy looking and not working and going to bed early? There was totally something wrong, and not this bullshit ‘under the weather’ thing she was trying convince her was real. “Soooooo. If you’re so tired you must’ve had a super busy day. Lots of lab work today?” She asked, so not ready to let Dani off that easy. “A fair amount,” Dani replied, with a slight shrug. After a moment she stopped looking at her nails and picked up the textbook from off the mattress next to her instead, shifting to transfer it to the small desk shoved into the space at the foot of her bed. It was too much movement, her behavior too restless as she fidgeted under Bea’s continued questions. She probably looked incredibly guilty. “If you want to know the truth, I left my shift early today. And I arranged to take the next few days off as well, but don’t worry -- I won’t be underfoot. It just seemed like a sensible precaution, considering...” Dani trailed off, sighing. Then she made a face and lifted her gaze to look across the space between their two beds. “Considering I know my own mind, and I’d never be able to focus right now.” The initially flippant attitude immediately became more serious. This talk from Dani was super weird. Like, way weirder than she’d ever anticipated. When had Dani ever taken time away from work? And what was all this talk about knowing her own mind? Bea’s tone was gentler this time. “So, like, what’s going on? What are you thinking about that makes it so you can’t concentrate?” “It was about the Annihilator. From last autumn?” Dani clasped her hands together in her lap, fighting the urge to break eye contact with Bea. The greater part of her life had been spent in developing a certain pride in the fact that she always appeared well put together no matter the circumstances. At the moment, however, she felt anything but. “I’ve already used the self-applied term ‘panic attack’ once today to describe what happened, so I suppose I ought to stick with it.” In hindsight, she could see clearly the way a confluence of factors -- the increased number of patrolmen in the hospital, the act of dredging up Zeckendorf during that heated discussion with Olivia, the furor of gossip coupled with an atmosphere of trepidation that surrounded the kidnappings -- had built up into such a disruption. If she’d been a little less willfully oblivious, less inclined to ignore everything related to that incident, perhaps she could have avoided this all together. Bea bit at her bottom lip, watching Dani for a moment before letting out a humming exhale. Really the only thing she knew about her roommate’s involvement in all that was that Dani’s last roommate had moved out when the Annihilator was targeting her. But it wasn’t like that conversation had given Bea a lot of information or even an indication of how much the whole ordeal had affected her roommate. That seemed to be the trend with Dani, though. “I don’t really know what happened--and you obviously don’t have to tell me--but I’m sorry that whatever happened today freaked you out. Is it something that you can avoid?” Without knowing the specifics it was a tad difficult to contribute helpful suggestions but Bea was trying to work with what she had. Despite Bea’s disclaimer that she didn't need to share any more information about what had upset her, Dani supplied it with only the barest hesitation. “It sounds so -- A patrolman stopped me in the hall near the supply room. The way it happened was vaguely reminiscent of the way Zeckendorf abducted me from the lab, and my mind filled in the rest of the details. I haven't thought about -- ” She paused to look down at her hands, which were clenched together tightly enough that the thumb of one pressed into the palm of the other hard enough to make it ache. She shifted in order to separate them. “It's not something I foresee happening again, but I can't really say for certain.” Perhaps there was something to Max’s suggestion of seeking the help of a professional, after all. Not the Bea counted as a therapist, but if Dani could talk to her, she could certainly talk to Mina. Bea’s brows shot up as Dani spoke and she bit hard at her lower lip to prevent herself from reacting, not wanting to derail her now that she was actually sharing… or as close as Dani got to sharing. It was still hardly any details, but Bea couldn’t really blame her for not wanting to elaborate about an abduction. “Wow, that sounds really scary. I’m sorry, Dani,” she said once she was sure she wouldn’t say anything stupid. Dani gave her a tight smile, acknowledging her words. “God, what’s with people, anyway? You can’t just go grabbing people. And what’s with all the kidnappings? Have you heard about the LBJ leader being taken? Like, legit ripped away and dragged off? So messed up.” The corners of Dani’s mouth turned very obviously downward into a grimace at the mention of the kidnappings. Speculation had been running rampant throughout the hospital, focused mostly on who had carried out the abductions and why. It was difficult to view the situation without overlaying it with her own experience, with the side effect that her own thoughts on the matter had taken a fatalistic bent -- it seemed logical that they could only have been kidnapped by someone with bad intentions. “I've heard,” she said, with a nod. “Austin seems incapable of peace. There's always another crisis, another terrible act perpetrated by another terrible person or group. It's monstrous.” And it made Dani doubt how well the city would be able to survive long term. “Have you talked with anyone you know at the LBJ? Do they have any plans for getting her back?” Bea nodded, frowning as well. “Yeah, I mean the lady who got kidnapped is practically my friend’s mom. She’s pretty messed up about it, obviously. And I know they’re out looking for her but I guess she got taken into a car and, like, who the hell knows how far they drove away. Ugh. This city really is messed up,” she said with a hopeless sigh. The odds didn’t look good in getting Savannah back and if someone like her could get taken, what would happen to normal people living in this city? And just look at what Dani went through. How were they going to keep surviving? Unlike some, Dani was not gifted with a naturally optimistic personality. In the realm of things, she was definitely more of a ‘glass half empty’ type. When Bea talked about her friend’s anguish at the disappearance of her mother, not a single word of comfort or hope went through her mind, just a complete loss for words. That, in itself was telling enough, since Dani almost always had something to say. She shook her head at her own speechlessness and let out a sigh. After another few moments of silent reflection, Dani finally said, “I’m sorry for your friend’s pain. I haven’t the faintest idea what it will take for our situation to improve, but it’s going to have to be a drastic change.” Looking across the gap between the beds at Bea, she added, “Thank you, for checking up on me. I suspect Pete asked you to, but I appreciate it all the same.” It felt weird to think that they’d made a lot of progress, but somehow hadn’t really talked about all that much. Bea didn’t really mind, though, because Dani would probably always be a difficult book to read. It was just in her nature, just like Bea wore her heart on her sleeve. But Dani was right. With all the problems, on a big and small scale, it was going to take more than one conversation. “I mean, yeah, Pete kinda told me to talk to you but I would have noticed anyway, so, it’s no problem, roomie. Any time,” she smiled. |