Current Timeline
<Cecilia> Cecilia had commandeered one of the library tables yet again to accommodate the sheer volume of books that she had accumulated in subjects from occultism to Egyptian symbology to horror film studies as well as her new, modest laptop.
<Cecilia> She sighed, exasperated, rubbing at her bloodshot eyes and scribbling more notes into her notebook. This anthropology and soft science crap was not her field of expertise and it frustrated her easily. And that Nancy Drew person made it look so easy and fun...little bitch.
<@Fabian> "...Why do you have my textbook?" Fabian had been going to greet her with a kiss and plop down beside her but he had been distracted from his course of action by confusion as Cecilia wasn't exactly a person all that caught up in Anthropology...and the rest of her surroundings didn't exactly explain anything.
<Cecilia> Cecilia yelped and leapt up from the table, banging the top of her thigh in the process and dropping said textbook onto the floor. It took a few seconds for her sleep deprived brain to process that the person standing over her was not an enemy, quite the opposite actually.
<Cecilia> In the meantime though she had actually dropped into a self-defense posture, a true show of how reflexive her training had really become. If she weren't scared shitless just then she might've been proud. "Jesus Christ!" she exclaimed, resting a hand over her pounding heart. "Don't ever do that again! God...you scared the crap outta me."
<@Fabian> "If you're looking for Jesus I hate to tell you he's not in that chapter." Fabian commented, eyebrow slowly creeping up at her as he took her and all of this ridiculousness in. Someone's nerves had obviously gotten to them and that wouldn't do. "What, ask you a question? Come into the library?"
<Cecilia> Cecilia sat down again, wincing slightly, that was definitely gonna bruise. "Try come up behind me when I'm not expecting it and startling me," she frowned, rubbing her leg.
<Cecilia> "Oh don't worry, I found Jesus already," Cecilia deadpanned gesturing to her small copy of the bible. "And Vishnu and Allah and Thor and fucking Xanadu," she continued, gesturing to various books.
<@Fabian> "I didn't try at all. You've yet to meet my ninja-like stealth mode. Are you okay?" Maybe he should ask that about more than her current possible bruising but he sat down beside her to check.
<@Fabian> "Thor's upstairs. I don't think he'd know what it is you're trying to do here either though. What are you up to?"
<Cecilia> "I'm fine, I just banged my thigh," she said, jerking her leg away. "Nothing to get worked up over."
<Cecilia> She sighed and leaned her head on her hand. "Right now?" Cecilia said, gesturing to the table. "Trying to find a match for the goddamn symbol that was carved on the trees. Yesterday? Trying to interpret the Bible verses scribbled all over the walls of the cannibal headquarters. Tomorrow? Trying to convince Xavier to let me have a look at some autopsy files."
<Cecilia> "Here," she said, pushing her notebook towards him. "This sums most of my work up."
<@Fabian> "...why are you doing this alone?" He gave her a questioning look.
<Cecilia> Cecilia raised an eyebrow. "Should I be doing this differently?" She shrugged the next second though. "Most of the time no-one else is awake when I'm working on it."
<@Fabian> "That and the fact that I just 'snuck up on you' isn't giving you the idea that you might be over-stressing yourself? You're not going to find anything if you work like this, Cee."
<Cecilia> "I'm fine," she said quickly. "Isn't like I'm not used to extra work and it's not effecting my schoolwork, I work on this mostly when I'm done my homework and I can't sleep. I have nothing better to do then anyway, might as well do something productive."
<Cecilia> "And I think I'm doing just fine so far," she remarked, gesturing to her notebook. "I have some decent theories, I think. Of course, the autopsies should be far more illuminating than this," she motioned to the book on runes. "Soft science is...not very quantifiable."
<@Fabian> Fabian shook his head a bit as he took the book of runes away. "It's certainly not a rune, I can tell you that right now which just adds to the question why are you attempting to do this by yourself when this is a building full of people who can contribute?"
<@Fabian> "You're not fine, you're all jumpy and red-eyed so don't tell me that."
<Cecilia> Cecilia frowned. "What makes you think it's not a rune?" She sighed and began stacking her books. "Jesus, when did you become my fa-" she shut her jaw so hard her teeth clicked "...Quit mothering me," she chuckled weakly. "I just haven't slept well this last little while. It's no big deal."
<@Fabian> "Well, it's not in the Elder or the Younger Futhark, it's not an Anglo-Saxon rune, dalrunes, I didn't get into Hungarian runes so I suppose but I'd think it'd be a bit of a stretch, same for Turkic but you'd probably have to get a book specific to them to actually find them."
<@Fabian> "Or just pull up the alphabet on your laptop, should be an easy search and comparison to rule it out quickly."
<Cecilia> Cecilia blinked a few times. "Futhwhat? How do you know about...?" She was too tired for this. For a second there she'd actually thought Fabian wasn't speaking English. "When did you become an expert on runes?"
<Cecilia> She frowned a bit "...Alright maybe it would help to have an extra pair of eyes...but I don't think it's a good idea to involve a lot of people in this."
<@Fabian> "Haven't you learned by now I know everything?" Fabian laughed, shaking his head. "One of the tutors Anne-Marie didn't bite through too quickly for us to learn some of his specialties was big into historical linguistics and I actually enjoyed it."
<@Fabian> "But why not involve people? Hell, the whole school's working on this on some level or they should be."
<Cecilia> Cecilia actually smiled a little at that. "Of course, how could I forget the immense and all-knowing being that is Fabian Cortez?" She snorted.
<Cecilia> Her face fell a little at the next question though "Besides the fact I find it difficult to ask for help?...Because I'm not entirely sure we should trust too many people right now," she admitted. "Call me paranoid but I think there's reason to be suspicious."
<@Fabian> "...do you think we're living with cannibals?"
<Cecilia> "I dunno," she said, eyeing the squad cars through the window nervously. "Whoever did this knows the grounds intimately and where all the cameras are and they picked here of all places to dump a body...I just...I wonder if there's inside information being dealt here."
<Cecilia> "They've been watching...planning likely...and it's more than a little weird that the only things we've seen have been the things they wanted us to see...that implies clean-up or diversion. Someone's screwing with us, Fab."
<@Fabian> "You've heard all the talk with Kraven, yes?" Fabian asked, "the guy that was here before and set traps like the ones out there? He wouldn't need inside information. He all ready knows the layout of the grounds and has been in the school."
<@Fabian> "Or at least that's what I gather listening to the staff talk about it. I don't think it's the people in the walls we have to concern ourselves with this time...I mean, after all, I've seen pretty extensive background files on all the people that were here before me." Of course, he didn't like to think about why he had seen such things considering but it did come in handy when talking about 'suspects'.
<Cecilia> "Again the most likely scenario as indicated in my notes," Cecilia said. "It explains nearly everything if it's him actually...except for the cannibalism. He had no record of consuming flesh...but again, considering he was a religious freak not much of a stretch to believe that. After all there's a lot of mentions of 'the body of Christ' in the Bible. Maybe he's just taking it a whole lot more literally now."
<@Fabian> "Unless he's a bigger fan than people think though I don't think we're his second coming." Fabian frowned, drumming his fingers against the table. "But I suppose if you want to research something...after you sleep you can always look into cults on transubstantiation."
<Cecilia> "...I can't," Cecilia said, putting her face in her hands. "I try, believe me, I do but I can't fall asleep and when I do I just have these fucked up-" she shook her head. "I keep seeing him."
<@Fabian> "If you haven't slept since then you'd be dead by now so you're going to be getting some sleep. And why is it bad to see him?"
<Cecilia> "Why would that be good?" Cecilia said, looking up. Her expression agonized. "I don't want to see him like that. I don't want to talk to him when he has a giant hole in his chest!"
<Cecilia> "Not when he keeps whispering terrible things and looking at me like I've failed him or something. I don't want that for him! I want him to be at peace and to stop haunting me."
<Cecilia> Cecilia sighed. "These dreams are just a sign that he never was at peace and never will be. Whether by the circumstances of his death or something else. That or it's some sort of warning..."
<@Fabian> "Then make that your dream." Fabian said simply. "This is why I know you're not fine because you've got your sub-conscious all riled up with worry and it's just compounding everything else in there and causing you to not sleep...which leads to you doing even more things that make sure you don't sleep."
<@Fabian> "You know very well what dreams are." Fabian dismissed her last statement completely. "If you buy that it's a sign then I obviously have missed something key in who you are."
<Cecilia> Cecilia just stared at Fabian, completely baffled. "I know what dreams are, but this isn't the same kind of dream as the one with mice in waistcoats. That's a silly dream, a subconscious dream. This, this is not."
<Cecilia> "I can't just make my father be at peace, it doesn't work like that," Cecilia explained. "A ghost is at peace when it is at peace and if it was never at peace, like he says in the dream. Then it can't be changed, the mortal world doesn't control the supernatural. The supernatural controls it."
<@Fabian> "....." Fabian just looked at her for a minute, trying to take in the bullshit that had just spewed from her mouth.
<Cecilia> "That or this is a warning," Cecilia continued, babbling on. Her tiredness making her watch her words less and less. "I had an evil eye put on me before I was born and the zafa was put on too late or wasn't strong enough. Maybe I should listen to him then... if this is a warning about my fufú then I should heed it...and why are you looking at me like that?!"
<@Fabian> "Because I'm about to back away slowly and go downstairs to the medlab and see about the possibilities of a Xanax."
<Cecilia> Cecilia scowled. "I don't need a Xanax! I'm not insane! What's the matter with you? Haven't you heard of fufús and zafas and the evil eye?"
<@Fabian> "Nobody said insane but highly anxious and in need of some sleep and to calm down, yeah, I'm saying that." Fabian stood up from the table. "Now that I've found my book I'm going to bed. Are you coming with me?"
<Cecilia> Cecilia sighed. "Yeah...just lemme get my things." She looked very troubled as she picked up her things and began packing them "...I shouldn't have told you that, hell, I shouldn't believe in them still! But I believed in a man who rose from the dead once so why not that, right? Anything could be possible. Look at us! We do the impossible with our powers everyday!"
<@Fabian> "Only our powers are real." Fabian teased her lightly, helping her gather up her things for the sake of getting her out of there faster before she lost more marbles.
<Cecilia> "...And who's to say curses aren't real?" Cecilia asked, hurt. "My mom always said 'you might not believe in fufú but it believes in you.' You have to admit a lot of bad things happened to my family since I was born- a lot."
<@Fabian> "...I'm not even going to engage this."
<Cecilia> Cecilia sighed. "Fine, you think I'm crazy to even consider it. I get it, it must sound crazy to you, but when we go to Puerto Rico you'll see. I'm not just making it up, the entire island takes it seriously. If I were there they'd forgive me for thinking it."
<Cecilia> She slipped her arm into Fabian's. "Just...don't look at me like you're disappointed in me. It's not like I told you I believe in the tooth fairy or elves or something."
<@Fabian> "I think you're being ridiculous if you think you're cursed because you're not cursed. Bad things happen to everyone. I'm going to look disappointed at you when you're being ridiculous."
<Cecilia> Cecilia grit her teeth hard. She should've known not to tell a whiteguy about island traditions. They never appreciated it and always got all holier-and-reasonable-than-thou. When their traditions made even less sense sometimes. A shitting log?! Really?
<@Fabian> "...are you seriously getting angry with me because I don't think you're cursed?"
<Cecilia> "I didn't say a damn thing," she said, struggling to keep her tone even.
<@Fabian> Fabian just looked at her, shook his head and walked on. If she wanted to be like this she could be.
<Cecilia> Cecilia's face twisted painfully. "Yes!" She cried at his back. "Yeah I did! So what do you care if I think it?! Who does it hurt?!"
<@Fabian> "...yourself? Everyone who cares about you?"
<Cecilia> Cecilia looked away, trying to hide her face "...I'm sorry." It hadn't crossed her mind it would hurt him that she thought so. "I didn't mean to upset you."
<Cecilia> "I won't say it anymore," she said.
<@Fabian> "I'm not upset, I just think you should know you're not a curse. I don't want you to just not say it, it shouldn't be something you think at all because everything bad that happens around you you'll take as proof and you know very well that's just circumstantial stuff when nothing is happening but right now shit is happening."
<@Fabian> "I shouldn't have to be your own self-confidence. That's what all of this business is taking away from you and it really should stop."
<Cecilia> Cecilia eyed him with some strange resolve. "You think knowing-" she stopped. "-believing that my entire life has been easy? You think I lack self-confidence for it?"
<Cecilia> "You make me sound fatalistic," she said, approaching him with an eyebrow raised. "I might believe things go to shit around me because they often do, but have I given up yet? If I didn't think or have some hope that I could still have a good life why would I continue? You characterize me as weak. I don't like that," she said.
<Cecilia> "You are a lot of things, but you aren't my self-confidence," Cecilia said, actually somewhat amused at this. "I had that long before you ever walked into my life and I'll have it long after. Don't you worry about that."
<@Fabian> "Then show a little self-worth." Fabian sighed. "If you think you're always going to get crap that's exactly what you're going to get and that's what I see this talk as. I'm witnessing you going into one of those modes right now and I'm trying to keep you from it by being as honest as I can be." Fabian sighed, shaking his head as he got to his door and opened it up.
<@Fabian> "You use it as a reason to push people away and you know very well you do that. I'm not saying you're weak. I'm saying you eat away at yourself for no good reason and you shouldn't let that happen because some old lady you're probably never going to see again was a racist old cow."
<Cecilia> "Abuela also had an amazing throwing arm," Cecilia muttered as an aside. She studied him, "...Maybe I believe you." She stayed paused in the threshold, waiting to be invited in.
<@Fabian> Fabian's face broke out into one of his usual smirks as his good mood returned, mood changable as can be as always. "Well, it is possible I know everything." He put on his best fake modest look and waved her own in. "You know you don't have to wait for an invitation."
<Cecilia> "I didn't know if you were too angry to want to see me," Cecilia said, stepping in. "I seem to make your mood shift a lot..." she smiled wryly "...get under your skin..."
<Cecilia> "You know a lot, but you don't know the powers my Abuela possesses and hopefully you never will, I'm going to go out of my way to make sure we don't run into her in San Juan this summer."
<@Fabian> "Like I said, I wasn't angry with you at all. I'm just insatiably practical and won't relent until I've at least rubbed off a bit of this onto a person." He laughed as he sat her things down. "And you know I'm secretly looking forward to seeing this woman, yes? Possibly giving her a smack on the ass and ask if she's a cougar just to see what she'd do."
<Cecilia> Cecilia sat up form where she'd flopped down on the bed, absolutely horrified. "DON'T! Fabian, I'm serious! The woman is a psycho, last time I saw her she hit me in the head with a tangerine ten yard away and called me every obscenity she could think of- which was a lot."
<Cecilia> "She will strangle us both with her purse strings if she sees us. Me for being black and you for being associated with me. Just..." she sighed. "She's crazy...just leave her."
<@Fabian> "She just sounds like my father when we fight except she gives fruit instead of drinks." Fabian observed with a smile. "I won't start anything."
<Cecilia> "Good and if we're lucky we won't run into her," Cecilia said, lying back down. "She used to scare the shit outta me...." she mumbled into the pillow, a bit embarrassed.
<@Fabian> Flopping beside her, Fabian settled down to actually get some sleep. "Well, who knows, maybe by the time we're down there she'll be telling Satan how terribly disappointed she is by the heating system in hell."
<Cecilia> "That old bitch will outlive us both," Cecilia snorted, shuffling closer to him. "She's a freak of nature. I've seen her slap grown men, push a cop on his ass and curse out groups of teenagers and she doesn't top 5'1". I shit you not."
<@Fabian> "Are we sure she's not a mutant?"
<Cecilia> "Mm, sorry," Cecilia said sleepily, smiling a little. "She's not, sadly. She's just filled to the brim with hate. She hates everything even remotely different. Jews, Blacks, Mutants...it doesn't matter much...she's a really shitty person."
<Cecilia> "...Maybe she's the cannibal..."
<@Fabian> "Maybe that's why Nur set up shop in the Caribbean."
<Cecilia> Cecilia sat up like a shot again. "You're shitting me! Which one-oh, yeah...Cartusia, I bet. Pft, that's a tiny ass island. Not even one of the greater Antilles," she said, waving a hand. "And don't even get me started on the Dominican Republic."
<@Fabian> Well, at least he had succeeded in distracting her. Fabian would consider this a good victory. "It turns out evil looks a lot like island hopping tourists with mojitos s when it's me and Lukas."
<Cecilia> Cecilia laughed and settled back down. "You two will rule the world one day," she said, smirking into his shoulder.