Viktoria "Glimmer" Valentine (glimmeredhope) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2012-10-28 20:11:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, cameron phillips, glimmer |
Who: Glimmer and Cameron
When: Sunday evening
Where: The library
What: Interrogation of sorts
Warnings/Rating: PG
Status: Complete!
The library was one of the few places Glimmer tried to avoid but sometimes it couldn't be avoided. If she wanted to graduate she had to actually do her papers. They weren't hard just tedious.
"Working on a paper too?" She asked as a familiar face sat down at the opposite end of the table from her. It was Cameron, John's sister. "Or more murder stuff."
She was going to be civil for now. It was a good way to find out all kinds of information about John, Cameron and their family. She was curious.
"I had a theory," Cameron said, spreading out some news paper clippings on the table in front of her. "About dreams."
She hadn't expected to see Glimmer. She wasn't sure she wanted to, but on the other hand she could learn more about this girl - and thus protect John from her, if she had to. Sort of a vetting process. Not because she was jealous, noooo.
"Care to share with the class?" It wasn't like her to beat around the bush. If she wanted to know she asked. If she didn't like you, well, you were the first to know too.
What Glimmer would like to know is where the dreams came from. She doubted anything was completely random. She wasn't into that whole random chaos line of thinking.
"That these dreams have happened before. I'm looking for records of mass hysteria. Upticks in mental illness. I haven't found much." Cameron looked up from her clippings to study Glimmer, "I could be wrong, but I have to prove I am first."
"Good luck with that," she wasn't convinced not even a little bit. "Maybe you really should check the water supply or something." It was something that the mention of the Salem Witch trials made her think of.
"One theory of the cause behind the mass hysteria of Salem is the wheat they ate. Consumed in large portions it causes delusions. The rest was power of suggestion. It snowballed."
She wasn't completely stupid. She skipped a lot of class because she wasn't. High school bored her.
Cameron had been similar. She got decent grades but could have done a lot better. Most of her focus had gone into music.
"There would have to have been something in the wheat. Perhaps bacteria in our water. I wonder if people who visit then leave keep having the dreams. Have you?"
If she looked hard enough Glimmer figured Cameron could find some type of pathogen that caused delusions but off the top of her head she was clueless, so she shrugged her shoulders. Medicine was not a forté of hers.
"I wish my dreams would disappear." She left it at that. She hated talking about them and with a girl she hardly knew it was never going to happen.
"I understand," Cameron said, but did not elaborate much beyond that. She was content to let the subject of personal dreams drop for the time being, and so continued to pick through more of the clippings.
"What are you studying?"
Glimmer glanced at her books before her. Only half of them actually pertained to what she should actually be studying. The rest were photography related.
"The 101 reasons why I will never look at anything written in French ever again." Spanish should be the language the all learned considering where they lived but she had been suck in French. "Truth, I need a French poem for a language project.”
"I know a little French. Not much." Mostly Spanish and Portuegese. Cameron peered at the title of one book, "Does it have to be an older poem? Maybe google some French poems. At least you can find one first, then try to find the book it was in to reference."
She'd learned that trick from John.
It was a fair suggestion. One that would save time and probably save her the hassle of translating it. Internet people surely have that done for her.
"Good idea. Less time doing homework the better."
Cameron should warn her not to use google translate, but she thought of Glimmer were actually that dumb she deserved the F. She didn't think she was, so didn't mention it, "I agree. Most of it is pointless."
"When is the last time you used calculus in your every day life?" She had pointed that put to a lot of her teachers but they had just scolded her. "English maybe because we need to communicate and read..." The rest was usually pointless.
"So John's thing is computers... What's yours?" Enough small talk.
"Calculus has it's uses, but only if your career depends on it. It's important to our daily lives." Cameron shrugged a shoulder, "We just never see how it's important because the people that use it to build our skyscrapers and send our rockets to the moon don't get publicity."
She hesitated, then said, "Music. I play the cello."
"Okay then, I will never use calc in my daily life and that's better for everyone." Number really weren't her thing. Far from it. Calc bored her to death.
"Classical or modern music?"
"Classical, but there are a lot of modern cello scores I adore," She replied, smiling. The subject seemed to light her up, and it had the side-effect of making her feel alive again, "I'm not picky, as long as it has soul."
"Respectable," Glimmer wasn't really impressed with some of the modern stuff. The older stuff was better in her mind and a part of her hate that it was just something else she had to like about Cameron.
"Ever going to try and make it a career?"
"I'm in an orchestra," She replied, excitedly. "I've never thought of going solo. The whole experience, all the music washing over me it's..." Orgasmic would be the right word, "rejuvinating."
"It can be a scary though," Glimmer wasn't sure she would ever take her photography obsession into more than just a hobby. "Never know until you try."
Maybe it would help her feel more alive again. The excitement was genuine, and it was harder to get excited about things than it used to be. Glimmer was hard to dislike. She still didn't trust her, but she liked her. It was annoying.
"Fear is healthy. It means you're alive."
"Doesn't mean you can't fail or die either," she wasn't stupid. Sometimes fear was a good thing and there for a reason.
"No. But there are things to be afraid of, and things to be afraid of." She picked through some more newspaper clippings. Nothing in the last two decades. Nothing suspicious, nothing that could give answers.
"Maybe," Glimmer said with a shrug not really agreeing completely. "So where else have you guys lived?"
"Nebraska, New Mexico. Some places in south of the border," Cameron replied, unwilling to detail just where in Central and South America they'd lived. It was suspicious, but it shouldn't be. It was a normal question. Glimmer wasn't a terminator, she wasn't trying to get information to hurt them.
"That's a lot of places," she noted with a shrug. Like she was one to talk. The list of places she had lived was probably just as long. "Why California?" Again another nosey but harmless question.
"I don't know. Sar..my mom picked it. I think she was following a job, mostly. And it's nice to be near the ocean after living in the desert." Cameron tilted her head, "Living in the desert is stupid."
"I never minded the desert," it was better than the city in a lot of ways but she did like having civilization close by. It was easier to walk to the store there. "Beaches sure beat snow though."
"I don't remember snow. Most of my life has been in place warmer climates." In fact, Cameron wasn't sure how she'd react to snow. It was just frozen water but the thought was so..weird.
"I'll take your word for it."
"Snow is okay but the shoveling is the bitch," she pointed out. The snow itself wasn't bad just a bit cold. "Warm weather is nicer. Nice to see palm trees instead of pine trees."
"I see." Cameron flipped over another clipping, then asked thoughtfully, "How did you and John meet?"
"By chance. We both picked the same place to hang out while we were skipping school." It hasn't been overly exciting story.
"Oh." Cameron didn't believe in chance, and her suspicions were unfairly raised once again. She shook her head to clear it.
"Were you taking pictures? And I guess this is where I ask your intentions about John."
"What else would I be doing?" Sure she did her fair share of stupid and dangerous things but she wasn't the type for drugs or anything.
It wasn't like she had any intentions, yet, but still didn't mean she liked the question. "Nothing yet, we're friends. Not that it's any of your business any way."
"He's my brother, that makes it my business," She replied, furrowing her brows. She actually hated using that word. It was more like adopted brother. At least when she thought like that it made her crush less weird.
"And he doesn't need you to look after him. He can do it himself," or she would hope so by their age. "No one likes a nosey sibling." It made her glad Faye was nothing like that.
"It's complicated," Was the only explanation that Cameron could offer. "He looks after me too. It's mutual. He'd probably interrogate anyone I brought home, too. Nothing personal."
“Do all his friends believe that?” Glimmer asked her looking up from the book she had been scanning in search of the perfect poem for her project. “It’s a cop out answer and you know it. Something you would say when you don’t want to explain something. If that’s the case just say so.” It wasn’t like she was about to sugar coat things. It wasn’t her style.
“If there is something you want to know just ask. I might not answer but I might just surprise you and answer too.”
"We don't have many friends," Cameron said point blank. "We've rarely stayed anywhere long enough to make any."
She wanted that to change. One reason to try to accept Glimmer, at any rate.
"When did you discover photography."
That was fair enough. She understood that because she hadn’t stayed any where long either.
“Well, maybe you will be here for a little bit longer then and maybe you and your brother will find friends.” Maybe she would even be one of them.
“A few year ago. Needed an elective and I wasn’t particularly found of wood shop or cooking or some other half-ass excuse they try to force high school sophomores into so I decided to try photography. It just stuck.” Sometimes it was as easy as that. “How did you get into music?”
"I hope so." Cameron wasn't counting on that. She'd already had to talk Sarah out of leaving once. She didn't know if she'd succeed the next time. She tilted her head again. It seemed to be a habit of hers when she thinking.
"We were in Belize. I was..six. There was an old man we were staying with, and he had some instruments. I plucked the strings and..I guess I was hooked."
“And it was as easy as that?” Glimmer asked as she casually flipped a page in the book she was looking at. Sometimes it was as easy as that but two could play the interrogation game. “Spend a lot of time in central America?”
"You could say that," Cameron hedged. "And it was that easy. It took me some time to find the right instrument. He taught me the basic notes, but I had to study a lot on my own. Music teachers aren't cheap."
She didn't want to go into just how long they'd been there. Especially not why. She didn't even know the full details herself, just what Sarah had shared with her.
"A lot of things aren't cheap though apparently around here information and gossip are," she noted as she snapped the book closed. Skeeter did a good job of that.
Cameron nodded her head. Rita had at least let her know that Jim Kirk was a manskank, which had been a warning she wish she'd had BEFORE she'd met him.
"Is it?" She asked, tilting her head again. Information didn't have to be cheap. Sometimes it could be quite valuable.
"Depends on who you're asking," she said honestly. "Secrets can open a world of possibilities or Pandora's box." Unfortunately she didn't have any.
"Though I wonder if Rita needs a photographer," Glimmer joked.
"It would probably pay well," Cameron said. "If you wanted to sell your soul for the money."
"You assume I have one to sell. I might not have one, you never know." Glimmer said with a grin. It was always a possibility. "Maybe I am in search for one to bargain away."
Cameron smiled back, thinking maybe they could have a little fun - it might make John happy if they became friends, "Maybe we could hunt for a picture to sell."
"Oh between two of us I am sure we could think of something. Split the cash," it wouldn't be a bad choice really. Could be profitable.
Nodding her head, Cameron thought about it, then started moving the newspaper clippings around a bit, to put them away, "I think we can make some spending money."
What? She'd heard that in a movie.
“I’m sure we could. I mean Skeeter would probably pay some big money maybe depending on the shot,” it was half a joke half serious. If someone was going to profit it could at least be them.
Cameron held out her hand, "Deal?"
Glimmer slowly reached her hand out and shook the offered hand. “Deal. 50/50 profits.” Just so they were clear.
“50/50 profits,” Cameron agreed.