Matthew Jacobs (matt_jacobs) wrote in rrinitiative, @ 2013-01-19 15:31:00 |
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Entry tags: | day ten, jae, jae and matt, matt |
Awkward Questions
Characters: Jae and Matt
Setting: Room 11, early evening
It had been a curious afternoon for Matt and as a result, he was feeling distinctly unsure of himself, a sensation he had immense dislike for. After collecting some clothes for Edan, making sure not to disturb the room, he had taken them upstairs then left for a while to let her sleep. On returning though, she had acted strangely around him and, not wanting to upset her after everything that had happened that day, he had retreated, leaving her to her own devices. Stopping by the kitchen to grab himself a little something for dinner, he had then taken up position outside Edan’s room, camera slung around his neck, idly flicking through a book as he waited for Jae to arrive.
Jae had already been trying to organize everything, and after she spoke with Wu, she headed to get shit done. Eventually, the time came that she needed to talk to Matt. Slowing when she saw someone sitting there with a camera, she smiled. "Matt, I presume." she greeted.
He might have had a book in his hands but Matt was more than aware of his surroundings, already snapping it closed as Jae approached him. “That’s mmmme,” he said, pushing of the wall behind him to stand up, grateful for the book in his hands as it gave him an excuse to not have to deal with the whole ‘shaking hands’ issue. “You m....must be Jae.”
"Correctamundo." Jae said. "Hi. There's some things to discuss, as well as one other matter that I'll need to talk with you about. But let's get yours done first." she said. It wasn't that she put room vandalization above rape, it was just you approached people in different ways. Matt had come to her with his own concern, so she was getting to that first. Afterwards she'd talk about everything else. "Where would you like to start?"
The mention of another matter stoked Matt’s curiosity but he was nothing if not able to focus and right then, that focus needed to be on what had happened to Edan’s room. “I can show you inside and then perhaps, we can talk in there?” he offered, reaching into his pocket for the room key and unlocking the door.
Jae nodded, then walked closer, stepping into the room when Matt unlocked it. Yeppers, that was clearly a trashed room. Well shit. Though she was vaguely surprised that this hadn't happened before. She nodded to the camera, indicating his taking pictures would be awesome now. "So, start at the beginning." she told him, just going to let him tell the story in his way. And he could choose what he thought the beginning was.
Taking her cue, he tugged the camera from his neck and with well practised hands, began to photograph the damage. “The beginning today or from where I think this all started?” he asked, dropping to a crouch to get a better shot of the debris strewn about the floor.
"Where you think this all started." Jae invited, wanting as complete a picture as she could get. That meant a version of the story from Matt, one from Edan, and when she got around to talk to Pippa, one from her too. She stayed out of his shots, but was looking around to take mental notes herself.
Matt nodded, getting back up to his feet to move towards the bathroom where he knew the worst damage was even if he had to see it yet. “Edan was unfortunate enough to run into Pippa vandalising the laundry room the other day,” he began, pausing to take another photograph. “When Edan tried to stop her, Pippa lashed out physically and Edan had to fight back before she was able to leave. She then came to see me and wound up staying the night. The next morning was when the fire was set in the courtyard, Edan believed that Pippa might have been responsible, I agreed.” He crossed into the bathroom them, unable to conceal his expression at the sight of the ruined books as he raised the camera to his eye. “I have yet to be convinced otherwise. This though...” He stopped to take a steadying breath and turned towards the message on the mirror, his own reflection staring back at him from behind the words. “I had an altercation with Pippa myself in the library during the blackout, words were exchanged, she tried to bait me and I...overreacted.”
Jae paused, jotting a few things down on a paper she'd folded over a few times to make it handy palm-sized. She made the list of information really short and succinct. She looked at the message, thinking it was creepier to see it in person than just know what it said over the journals. "Explain 'overreacted'." she requested, no hint of judgment in her tone or anything, she was still just gathering information.
“I hit her with a desk lamp,” he said, voice quiet but surprisingly level given what he was admitting to, lining up his camera for a shot, ducking down to ensure he wouldn’t be in the picture. “I will confess, when it comes to people I care about being hurt, I have a poor track record for behaving in an ‘appropriate’ manner.”
Jae mentally noted the shit out of that, though she didn't appear to find it any more pertinent than anything else he said. She had a good poker face. "How much damage was done? Did it end the confrontation there? Was there more that happened?"
Matt shook his head then pressed the shutter, the small room briefly filled with a flash that took him straight back to the library. “She was knocked unconscious,” he said, turning to face Jae so she could see he was making no attempt to hide anything from her, including his lack of remorse. “There was a slight cut from what I could see but she was still breathing and I saw no point in doing anything further so I left. Then Edan is targeted, the books ruined and this message is left - it is no great leap to guess at who is responsible.”
Nodding, Jae made a few more notes. "Thank you." she said. "How soon do you think you can get the pictures to me?" she asked, not quite sure what he had rocking in the way of printing shit. But she assumed there was something. She had a lot to think about--and still had some other shit to ask him about.
“This evening if you like, when I received the camera from our overseers I was fortunate enough to be provided with a printer as well,” he replied. “I can bring them to you as soon as you’re done.” He had no intention of inviting the woman to his room however, there was no mistaking Jae’s intelligence and he was well aware of how his ‘mural’ could be interpreted.
"That works." Jae said. "Alright, I have a few questions for you." she added, turning her attention to him. "Where were you during the black out?" she asked, tone pretty neutral, almost conversational. It didn’t come off like a snappy ‘answer all my questions!’ deal.
“I was in the library first, making a record of what books had been lost in the fire,” he said, leaning back against the wall as he replaced the lens cap on his camera. “Then after my dealings with Pippa I went back to my room where I spent the rest of the night.”
Nodding, Jae flipped her page over and jotted that down. "Would you show me your supply of condoms, please?" she requested. She knew it was an awkward question, though she didn't ask it like it was. Instead, it was just a sort of professional tone she adopted.
Her tone of voice may have been completely professional but it didn’t stop her question from catching Matt totally off guard, unsettling him to the point where it brought out his stammer in full force. “Wwwwwhat, wwwwwhy wwwould, I’ve nnnnever even...” He forced himself to stop and take a breath, forcing himself to remember the lessons taught to him by his speech therapist years before before attempting to speak again, this time much more slowly. “I cccould if I h...had one to show you,” he said, looking both apologetic and faintly embarrassed. Yes there had been some in his bathroom cabinet but he had gotten rid of them on the first day when he’d discovered them.
Patient, Jae didn't try to rush him at all. She let him get through it. "Everyone was provided birth control when they arrived. At the moment, we need an accurate number count for everyone. Were you not provided condoms?" she asked, hiding that she had a big ole red flag pop up in her head.
“Nnnno, I was,” he said, embarrassment growing as a blush started creeping up his neck. “But I knew I wouldn’t n...need them so I got rid of them. I didn’t like having them around.”
"Where did you put them?" Jae asked. She could see he was pretty awkward. So, while it was strange, she didn't think that it was out of left field, considering. Either way, she wanted to get what information she could there.
“I threw them away.” He would’ve given them to someone else but conversation with strangers was hardly his forte and offering up birth control to someone on the first time meeting them was a beyond terrifyingly awkward situation so he had tossed them down the garbage chute.
"I see." Jae said. "Do you have any more solid a time frame on when your confrontation with Pippa was?" she asked. She'd ask Pippa too, but still. "As accurate as you can get, please, it'll help."
“Maybe an hour or so after the p...power went out?” Matt replied, wishing he could sound more sure of himself. “I ccc...couldn’t say for definite though. Mmmmay I ask why?” It was clear that something else had happened during the storm and he was perceptive enough to realise his answers were not painting him in a favourable light.
She jotted that down, nodding. "I'm looking into another incident." she told him, not giving specific details because she wouldn't tell other people his details either. It was a good way to get rumors started and possibly give others a heads up to scramble and fix things. "I appreciate your time, and thanks for answering questions for me." she said. "And get in contact with me later about the photographs?"
He hadn’t really expected her to elaborate if she answered his question at all but that didn’t stop Matt feeling frustrated at not getting more information. He made every effort to keep it from his face though, nodding in agreement to Jae’s request before making his way out of the room. He still needed to tidy it like he’d promised but for the time being he needed time to think and clear his head, wondering what exactly he had found himself caught up in.