Laying Out Plans
Characters: Ru and Cassandra Setting: Cassandra's room, morning
Cassandra had let herself be sullen for a day, smoking too many cigarettes and mostly just feeling down on herself. That was normal. She sulked, then when she got it out of her system, she moved on to doing something about it. She was dressed to something almost pristine, blouse and skirt, cup of coffee in hand as she waited to meet Ru in the kitchen. They’d likely have this conversation elsewhere, but this was a good start for meeting up at least. She hoped that whatever solution Ru had would work. The twins hating her was unacceptable. In the back of her mind she wondered why she thought as much, she’d had exes hate her before, but that didn’t bother her as much this was bothering her. Instead of trying to determine why, she was focusing on fixing it.
Ru headed in, aware she was going to have a busy day. This, then dinner with her new besties, Zach and Matt. She was loving every moment of that, for certain. When she walked into the kitchen, she gave the blonde there a bright smile. "Well hello, darling." she said.
Were they that familiar? Cassandra didn’t feel that way, but she’d gathered from her other interactions with the other woman not to counter it with anything other than kindness. “Hello,” she greeted with a smile of her own, also bright and friendly. “Coffee?”
"I'd love some." she said. Then she smiled, watching her. "So! Tell me how you've been doing...what has been occupying your time?" she asked.
Cassandra made herself busy pouring out some coffee for Ru. “Same as anyone else. I had to move, found out the guy who was in my room was all too creepy and then had Hunter tell me I disgust him and Hayden tell me to fuck off.” She handed the mug to Ru to make it how she liked it. “Not exactly how I’d like to see things going.”
Ru took it black, and listened to Cassandra talking. "Do you have any other friends here?" she asked. "And tell me about the creepy guy." she added. That was something she would definitely need to know--also, it could be something useable for Cassandra's plight.
She considered the question and shrugged. “Not really. I’ve met a few others, but that’s it. I met one of the new women here yesterday.” Cassandra hadn’t had much of a chance otherwise. She’d been focused on her twins. “Just eerie. And he touched all of my things before he let me come claim them back. All of them. He tried to hide it, but you know when you can just tell?”
Ru nodded. "I do." she said. "Hm. Well, first of all, you're going to need to make some friends." she told her. "Work on it. And you and I need to find someplace where we can talk."
Cassandra shrugged. “I can do that. Is that a general suggestion or part of your plan?” she asked, nodding out of the room. “Library maybe? Or would you like to come to my room?” It would give her an idea of just how much of a hush hush conversation this would be.
"It plays in on the grand scale." Ru said. "And let's go to your room." she said. She knew the cameras were available in there (or they were in theory) but the bathrooms weren't.
Cassandra started out of the kitchen, leading the way. “Which part of the grander scale?” she asked, wanting to know how that played in with honest curiosity.
"We'll get to that." Ru said, figuring they would be able to talk all the better with some semi-privacy, at least. She didn't want anything on camera. Images were fragile things. And if she was going to help Cassandra build hers, then she was going to need to get that in check fast--but if someone saw what was happening, then it was done.
That just got a nod out of Cassandra, stopping once they were at her door. She used the ID bracelet to unlock the door then held it open for Ru. “Come on in,” she said waving the other woman into the room.
Ru entered the room and glanced around, though she looked back over her shoulder at Cassandra. "Music please?" she said, smiling pleasantly. "And we should have it loud."
That was interesting. Cassandra went to the computer to turn on the music, noticing the new icon on her desktop, but passing it over to click on the music player, selecting something at random and turning it up loudly, but not enough that she couldn’t hear the other woman. This was awful secretive and as a result she didn’t answer once the music was on, just turning to look at Ru curious if there were more instructions.
Ru then headed into the bathroom, and waited for Cassandra to follow her. She gave a nod for her, just so she would be able to know she was invited.
As if the rest wasn’t like spying enough, being invited into her bathroom with Ru was strange. “What’s this?” she asked, looking at Ru with her arms crossed over her chest. “I feel like we’re in a spy movie.”
"In a way, we are." Ru said, turning on the water faucet as well just to be sure. She also shut the door behind Cassandra. "You are aware we're being watched, right?" she asked. "Both by the bigwigs, of course, and people in the other block so far as I can tell. This morning, we can spy on block B, and I'm assuming they can spy on us. If we're going to have meetings about shady dealings, I'd prefer they weren't observed by just anyone who could ruin the whole deal and our reputations all in one shot."
Cassandra had assumed the administration or whatever they were could watch, but the other block? That was something else. “And we’re not worried about what the two of us locking ourselves in the bathroom looks like?” she asked, but didn’t say more on the matter. “Though being able to spy on them...that would be interesting.” She could see herself checking in on the twins from time to time.
"That could be literally anything we wanted to talk about in true privacy. There's nothing to suggest it has to be nefarious. But which would you rather? Sitting around talking about how we're trying to manipulate the twins where they could possibly see the whole thing? Or maybe just make people wonder what we're talking about?" she posed.
“I was more thinking what other might think we’re up to,” Cassandra pointed out. That was where minds tended to go anyway. She moved to sit on the edge of the tub. “What are we going to do about the twins?”
Ru rolled her eyes. "Good lord, get creative. For all anyone knows, I'm in here telling you I'm pregnant. And considering the observation going on, I'm going to assume a lot of people are going to start having conversations as guardedly as possible. Use your imagination, I'm sure you possess one. If you're going to let every little 'oh no!' get in the way, I'm done here."
Cassandra bit the inside of her lip to keep from rolling her eyes. “I’m not hung up on anything, just presenting another thought for what we could be up to. Though you being pregnant would be interesting I’m sure.” The corner of her lips curled into something close to a smile, but nothing more. “I’m with you. I already told you, I’m willing to make sacrifices and take on what I need to do.”
"Really? Because it sounded to me like you were whining about what people might think, not 'presenting another thought'." Ru said. "Anyway, first, yeah, you need friends. If no one gives a shit about you and you're just that bitch who fucked over the brothers, twins, no less, then why should anyone feel for you? Why would they? You need to have other people around who are going to want to be on your side. Who are going to be concerned when you get injured. If they see that you're making friends, maybe they'll think you've turned over a new leaf as well--it will be much easier for them to swallow if you have other people around than if you're some weird loner no one wants to talk to."
This woman was beyond infuriating, but Cassandra didn’t say it. She just nodded. “I see what you mean. And I can work with that.” She’d just have to find some others around the facility that she could make friends with. She might have to be more patient with others.
"Try to make as many friends as you can. It'll look better, the more you've got. But be sure to get 'close' to some too, see if you can't wrangle up a 'best friend'." Ru said. "Play the penitent card whenever it comes to the guys. And try to put yourself in the creepy guy's path now and then. See where he goes, what he does, and develop an interest that puts you near him. So, when you do get mysteriously 'attacked', there'll be someone to point the suspicion at."
“The penitent card? As if I’m asking for forgiveness?” Cassandra asked, wanting clarity. “While I am fine with using him and being ‘attacked’, I’m not sure I actually want to be attacked by him.”
"That's why I worded it as suspicion. He's an unknown factor, I wouldn't suggest you actually put yourself in that position." Ru said. It would be too unpredictable. "And penitent as in you feel bad for it. Like you want to make up for it." she added. "What exactly do you want from them? What would be your perfect end game?" she asked.
That was a relief because Cassandra wasn’t interested in actually being in that position. At the question about her end game, she actually thought about it, smile turning almost wicked before she spoke. “It’s was so much fun having both of them and neither fully realizing what was going on when I wasn’t with him.”
"Are they talking?" she asked. "And how do you feel about them? Where are you at with the whole thing? You're just bored without the toys? Anything else?" Ru asked, needing to know to figure out how to tailor this con well.
“To one another? I believe they are yes,” Cassandra said, but the other questions were harder. Losing the twins was harder on her than she’d expected. Maybe she’d played the part of loving them for too long. “I’m bored without my toys yes, but...i don’t like how this ended with them. It...eats at me a little.”
"That's a problem. If they're talking to each other, it'll be harder for you to get things on your own levels." she said. "And are you invested?"
"Hayden said they are. He's the only one capable of speaking to me at the moment even if it is just by angry message," Cassandra explained. The question had her pausing, looking at Ru. "Invested how?"
"Are you invested in them." Ru clarified for her. "Do you care what happens to them? You say you didn't like how it ended, do you care in general?" she asked. "It's fine either way, I just want to know so I know how to go about things."
That wasn’t an easy question. Everything in Cassandra said no, she wasn’t, she didn’t care, but something else was pulling her away from that. “I’m not sure,” she settled on.
"That's a valid answer." Ru said, understanding. She nodded, taking the information in. "For now, work on step one--getting friends. I would also contact them both, even if it's just to tell them you're sorry, or something. You could also go the route of contacting them just to contact them, you miss them and even if they won't talk to you, you wanted them to know...be creative. Play to whatever it was that drew them in in the first place. Use personal details if you can, remembering something special about them individually."
Cassandra nodded. Reaching out to the twins and playing up personal relationships was much easier than trying to find other friends in the block. “I can do that, all of it.”
"Excellent." Ru said with a smile. "Then have at it. Keep in touch, and I'll of course, be around. Let me know if you hit any snags." she said, heading for the door. She glanced back. "Happy hunting."
She felt like all she was doing was nodding, but as Ru moved to leave she got up. “Thanks,” Cassandra responded with a smile, but nothing more than that. She was already thinking of what she’d say to the twins.