12/9 Instance: Happy Now?

[fourpawsonthefloor]

Timeline: After Breaking the News


rachel: Rachel shoved her door open and kicked it closed, wondering how twisted it was that she liked the jolt of pain it caused. She collapsed on her bed with a scowl, burying her face in her pillow. Meggan's really gone...

rachel: The more she told herself that, the more surreal it seemed to become. She just couldn't believe it. Meggan was really gone. Rachel let out a shuddering breath and could feel the tears threatening to fall.

Josh: Figuring he'd spent enough time pacing in his room, Josh rolled off his bed and plopped to the floor. He debated putting on music and letting the soothing strains distract him, but quickly threw that idea out. There wasn't anything that could distract him now.

Josh: He pushed himself off the floor and stretched. His thoughts strayed to Rachel. He'd wanted to catch up with her after the meeting, but she'd disappeared so quickly and he'd been in no mood to act civilized around her. But there was more to having a relationship than fooling around during the good times. He had to go deal with the aftereffects of the meeting, whatever that would bring. Rachel was close to a lot of those people. Josh liked them himself. He wanted to break something.
Josh: He wandered down the hall to Rachel's room and waited a moment, listening. He couldn't hear her in there, so he knocked.

rachel: "For fuck's sake," she muttered, taking another deep breath. Rachel rubbed at her eyes, checking who it was with her telepathy first, before answering, "Come in."

Josh: Josh tentatively opened the door and poked his head in. He frowned at the sight of Rachel listless on her bed. His plan had been to try to be cheerful for her sake, but now he couldn't muster the energy. Besides, he was sure she'd know his cheer was fake. How happy could one be after finding out a bunch of classmates were suddenly kidnapped right ouf the school walls?

Josh: "Hi, babe," he said softly, coming in and leaning againt the door with his hands thrust in his pockets. "Well, you look blue. You doin' ok?"

rachel: "Hey," she moved, so she was sitting up, leaning back against the pillows, "Not really." No point in lying.

Josh: "I didn't think so." He squirmed slightly, unsure what to say. "... It's really insane, huh."
rachel: "Yeah..." she trailed off, pulling her knees up. "...You don't have to stand there. You can sit..."

Josh: "Oh, yeah. OK." Josh sank into the bed next to her. Hesitantly, he laid a hand on her back, then wrapped it further around her shoulders.

rachel: Rachel leaned against him, squeezing her eyes shut. No more crying. She was tired of crying. After the meeting, after talking to Claude, just a moment ago. At the rate she was going, she'd probably just end up making herself sick. And now what was she supposed to say?

Josh: They sat in silence for a long moment. Josh struggled against the urge to break the silence. Finally he asked, "Have you seen any of the others? I've kind of been... holing up in my room since... you know."

rachel: "Yeah. I went to make sure Alex was okay...or as okay as he could be..."

Josh: He nodded in understanding. "Yeah, Alex was really worked up," he recalled. "Actually, I was impressed with how most people handled the news... trying to figure out how to fix things right away and all. I was just a mess." He hadn't signed up for this.

rachel: "Well, it's not the first time it's happened," she muttered into his shoulder, bitterly.

rachel: She chewed on her lip for a moment, "I'm taking Alex's shift at work tomorrow. I just got off the phone with his boss...he's creepy. Like, happy creepy..."

Josh: He rubbed her back, trying to hide just how uncomfortable the thought of this being the second kidnapping at the U. made him. He managed to smile just a little at Rachel's description of Alex's boss. "That was nice of you. I didn't know Alex had a job. Where does he work?"

rachel: "I didn't either." Rachel rolled her eyes, "He a waiter at Megatokyo. I really don't want to do it, but I already agreed. And, help Alex...especially since he's helped me a lot..."

Josh: "Megatokyo?" He couldn't resist sniggering. "Are they going to put you into one of those fluffy-skirted Lolita-esque outfits? Maybe I should stop by tomorrow... I've been told you haven't lived till you've experienced Megatokyo."

rachel: "I don't know. Guess I have to wait and see til I get there tomorrow. Alex said it'd probably be a dress though," she frowned, "I hate dresses."

Josh: "Yeah, well, it's only one day, and you can nominate yourself for canonization afterward... I'm sure, with Alex in such a state, he'd terrorize the crazy otaku customers." He couldn't keep a bitter tone out of his voice as his thoughts returned to the kidnapped students. He went on, "And you know. At least you'll look cuter in that dress than he would."

rachel: Moving so she was more in his lap rather than next to him, Rachel grinned slightly, "Pffft, I'm always cuter than Alex, but I doubt he would. Really, I'm more worried about terrorizing his customers. I seem to find joy in that sort of thing."

Josh: "It's good you're honest with yourself," Josh replied, reaching out to rub a blue-tipped clump of her hair between his fingers. "Just be your adorable self. Pretend every customer is me. Just no kissing them."

rachel: "I doubt they kiss as well as you, so I think I can live with that..." Honest with herself? Yeah, right.

Josh: "Aww. Well, I have a good teacher." He almost gave his trademark eyebrow wiggle, but couldn't get up the energy.

rachel: "Tomorrow's going to suck. Work and traing. Classes, if I feel like getting up...which I probably won't. I hate this."

Josh: "Yeah. I hate it too." It was hard to imagine doing anything "normal" now. "I keep thinking I want to break something."

rachel: "Breaking something is better than what I've been thinking about." There was a reason she hadn't been alone in her room.

Josh: "I don't even get how stuff like this happens. What the heck is out there that kidnap six grown, powered students so easily? And they're mutants, too. So they're going after their own kind why, exactly!?"

rachel: "I'm still barely getting that they're gone. Haven't even thought about who."

Josh: "Yeah. Yeah..." His voice trailed off, and he flopped down on his back. "I haven't really done much thinking at all."

rachel: "I feel like I'm been thinking too much lately. The band stuff, Meggan, Alex said he thought about leaving. I should listen to Lizzie and stop thinking before my brain breaks," Rachel watched him.

Josh: "Alex, thinking of leaving? No kidding?" his frown deepened. "I just hate having no answers."

rachel: "He said he'd thought about it, and he promised he'd tell me if he decided to. We'll get answers. It just takes time."

Josh: "That sucks." He looked at her with sympathy, knowing how close she was with Alex. "Yeah, sure, doesn't really make ya feel better though, does it..."

rachel: She shook her head, "Not really."

Josh: He sighed and said nothing for a while. Then he asked, "So... training. Teams. You're on one, right? Does that mean they expect we'll... I dunno, have to fight?"

rachel: "Yeah. I'm on infiltration. Get to be all sneaky and stuff." She shrugged, "Depends what team your assigned to, and you don't have to if you don't want to. They can't make you."

Josh: "I don't like the sound of that." He grimaced. "I don't like the sound of that at all. You're going to tell me that people here, who are stressed about their grades, relationships families, and who spend more time goofing off in the rec room than discussing anything remotely serious, are a bunch of pseudo-Spy Kids?"

rachel: "Pretty much. There's four teams: infiltration, combat, investigation, and medical. Combat and infiltration are the only two that'd really have to do any fighting. And really, we're only supposed to get in and out with little to no confrontation for the team I'm on." Yeah, that was going to make him feel better about this.

Josh: "Oh, it all sounds so simple," Josh retorted. "You can just prance down right into the sewer, infiltrate Moriarty's crime ring, and come back totally unscathed. Yup, piece of cake."

rachel: "I never said it was."

Josh: "Yeah, well. Sorry, I just thought people came to college to learn how to live, not how to risk their lives."

rachel: "Whatever," Rachel got up, rolling her eyes, "You may be able to sit around and do nothing, but I can't fucking do that. And, in case you hadn't noticed, this isn't exactly a normal college."

Josh: "I've noticed that," he snapped back, getting angry in turn. "It's pretty damn obvious what kind of college this is when a bunch of your friends disappear without a trace and then your girlfriend's like, 'Oh yeah, I'm gonna go stick my head in the lion's mouth!'"

rachel: "Congrats, you have keen powers of observation," her voice dripped with sarcasm. "What the fuck do you expect me to do, Josh?! Nothing? Just let everyone else fucking deal with it?"

Josh: "That's not - I meant - it doesn't have anything to do with you!" he shouted, flinging his body upright and grinding his fists into his hair. "I mean that people are being so damn cool about it when it sucks. And I don't really see what the heck you running into the danger is going to do to change things."

rachel: "Yeah because it's not the first damn time this has happened! I think we all know how to fucking deal with it. We got everyone back last time, and we'll get everyone back this time," she shouted back. "And yeah, it sucks. Life fucking sucks. You just have to deal with it and keep going."

Josh: "And that's the kicker, ain't it - it's the freaking second time! What's next? Obviously nobody's protected here, so tell me this, Rachel - who's gonna protect the protecters? Because it seems to me you can't very well deal with leave, keep going, count your blessings and what else if you're freaking dead!"

rachel: Rachel's fists clecnched and she could feel her nails digging into her palms. Stay calm. She cringed as some object broke. Damn teke. She took a deep breath, preventing anything else from breaking or flying around. Josh was pissing her off, but she didn't want him to get hurt, healing or no.

rachel: "Fine. You've made you fucking point. Happy now?" She shook her head, back sliding down the wall. She pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them, resting her forehead, "Just...fuck off, Josh."

Josh: Josh winced as something shattered and almost jumped a little. She had to be upset if she was breaking things with teke. Guilt almost overwhelmed him, but it had to compete with his rising anger and feelings of helplessness.

Josh: "No," he said, lowering his voice. "No, I'm not freaking happy." He stood silently for a long minute, flexing his fists, staring at her slumped against the wall. Part of him pushed him to go to her, apologize, work it out. But something kept his feet rooted to the spot. "Fine, " he said coldly. "If that's what you want." He turned around and stomped out, letting the door slam shut.

rachel: Rachel let out a shuddering breath, trying to get her teke under control as something else smashed. Ah, fuck, she was crying again. Great. Now look what you've done...

[Edited on 9/12/07 by fourpawsonthefloor]