11/5 Issue: Midnight Caller

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Svartfreja
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11/5 Issue: Midnight Caller

Post by Svartfreja »

Timeline for the small hours of Tuesday morning.


<Carol> It was late. So so late. She didn't know what time it was but she knew that any decent people were asleep. But Carol couldn't sleep, even with the help of the scotch that had mostly burned off by now on her flight from Boston. She sighed, finding a tree to lurk in, and scrolled through her phone. She needed to talk to someone.

<Carol> It took a while for her to actually hit the call button, not sure she really should. But she'd done it now... and it would be rude to wake him and then hang up. She sighed and waited.

<Shinobi> Obi wasn't sure what that noise was at first, and when he did realize he wondered why the hell he hadn't silenced his phone before he went to bed. He swatted at the nightstand, snagging the phone on the second try.

<Shinobi> Squinting at the suddenly bright light, he nearly sent it to voicemail, then sighed. Glancing over at Hope, who was surprisingly still out, he sank through the floor to their living room and answered. "Carol?"

<Carol> Even though she'd been hoping he'd answer, the fact he had surprised her. "H-hey... Um... Did I wake you? I'm sorry..."

<Shinobi> "Um... yeah, but it's okay." Obi cleared his throat and wandered to the window to look outside, then turned back to check the time. "Are you okay?"

<Carol> She could lie... but then what was the point of waking him up? "Not really..." She scrubbed her face with her free hand, "I'm exhausted from trying to be normal..."

<Shinobi> His immediate answer to this was aren't we all, but that wouldn't help. "What happened?" he said instead, running his hand through his hair.

<Carol> "On Sunday... I woke up in my kid's treehouse.... and then the next day I was at a press conference and my ex-girlfriend was there and no one told me she was coming." And it bothered her way more than it probably should.

<Shinobi> Obi made a face at the phone, then brought it back to his ear. "That X-Men thing? I saw that."

<Carol> "Yeah... I'm kind of leading the team... so I'm staying in Boston which is nice... sorta...."

<Shinobi> "Gets you off of that desk job you said you hated, right?" Apparently it hadn't gotten her out of black-out drunk land, however.

<Carol> "Yeah... and I have a piece of paper Tony signed to say I never have to do any paperwork so that's also good..."

<Shinobi> "Sounds like things are looking up then except for the press conference thing... and how did you end up in the treehouse?"

<Carol> "I don't even know... I woke up because they were having construction equipment delivered... but I guess it was lucky I was there or someone would have got squashed by falling wood..." She pulled a face and looked at the house across the street from her perch.

<Shinobi> "You don't know? That's not good, Carol..." Still at the window, Obi's eyes were on the blooming trees, but he wasn't really focusing. It was late. Early. Whatever.

<Carol> "Yeah..." She sighed, looking up when something meowed from above her, "Oh... am I in your way? Or are you stuck?"

<Shinobi> Obi frowned. Was that a... cat? "Where are you? Treehouse again?"

<Carol> "No... just a regular tree on a street. There's no benches and I wanted to sit. Now I have a buddy." She helped the cat down into her lap.

<Shinobi> "...and do you know how you got to this tree?" Obi had his own experiences with drunks, but wow.

<Carol> "Yes, I know how I got to the tree..." she rolled her eyes, "I flew for a while so I burned off most of the scotch I drank to deal with today... and then I got depressed..." She petted the cat a little.

<Shinobi> "Ahhh, well that's good at least." He chuckled a little. "Hey, maybe the cat was depressed too. You got a buddy."

<Carol> "I think he... okay, she... was stuck up there. Probably chased a bird... I can't keep it, I'm sure it belongs to someone... plus I'm pretty sure it'll eat the guinea pigs and your mom'll be pissed."

<Shinobi> "Are you kidding? Jess loves strays. Look at us!" He was laughing now, remembering to keep his voice down so he wouldn't wake Hope.

<Carol> "Yeah... but they don't normally eat her pets..." She petted the cat some more, "Sorry, sweetie, can't take you home with me... maybe I'll come back and find you when I can live where I work..." The cat meowed at her.

<Shinobi> "Sounds like a chatty kitty. Maybe she can hunt those bamf things up at the old school?"

<Carol> "Maybe... or they'll steal her... that would suck..."

<Shinobi> "Yeah, that would suck." He yawned, trying to stifle it, and ruffled his hand through his hair. "Does she have a collar?"

<Carol> "No... but cats can slip their collars easy... maybe she has a microchip... I probably should stop petting her before I break it..."

<Shinobi> He rubbed his eyes. "Just pet the cat, Carol. She likes it. You like it. Don't overthink it."

<Carol> "It's better overthinking this than overthinking working with my ex...." she gave the kitty some ear scritches.

<Shinobi> "Howabout, since you're in a tree in the middle of the night, you try just focusing on petting the convenient cat and we can talk about the weather or something and you don't overthink anything for a while?"

<Carol> "But how am I supposed to shut my brain off without scotch?"

<Shinobi> "Try not to think about the scotch? Just pet the cat. There are lotsa ways to shut off your brain."

<Carol> "Is there a way that I can actually do? Because that would be something..." The cat was enjoying the petting at least.

<Shinobi> "Just... focus on the cat's fur, and if it's purring. Try to clear your mind. Like, I know thoughts pop in, but just kind of think 'okay' and let them go without analyzing them. It takes practice, but it works."

<Carol> "Yeah, I'm not good at that... The military doesn't really prepare you for emptying your brain..." She sighed, "They want you always thinking about stuff... ready to go... looking for trouble..."

<Shinobi> "Okay, but you need to try. That's what any shrink will tell you. I would think your military shrinks would be the same. I mean, I was a terrorist in custody and the SHIELD shrinks told me to do it."

<Carol> "Well I don't do so well with shrinks. They want to know things that I don't want to tell them..." The cat meowed again and looked down at the ground, "What? You need to pee or something or are you bored already?" She sighed and moved to help the cat get down safely.

<Shinobi> "...but that's how you're able to sort out psychological problems like addiction and brainwashing..." He heard the meow and chuckled again. "Maybe she really was stuck."

<Carol> "I guess so..." She watched the cat drop down to the ground, "It's also how I get suspended on medical..."

<Shinobi> Movement caught his eye and Obi blinked. Was that a cat? "Okay well maybe not a military shrink then... but you should talk to somebody..." An orange cat trotted from across the street and vanished in the shadows of the parked cars.

<Carol> "I'm talking to you, aren't I?" She pointed out, getting comfortable again in the tree and creating a shower of petals as she did so. Whoops. Oh well. Probably didn't need them anymore if they fell off that easily.

<Shinobi> The cat's tree shook and he sighed. Holy shit, she was across the street. "Yeah, but I'm not a professional..."

<Carol> "Were you deliberately not listening when I said I don't want to talk to a professional? They're all judgy and writey and questiony...."

<Shinobi> "Well, actually, no, they're not all that way and there's patient confidentiality - anyway." Obi rubbed his fingertips over his lower lip. "What're you going to do? Like, after this? Maybe you should go back to the church-house and get some sleep?"

<Carol> "Yeah... I guess I should..." But it was so hard not to wake up two people with super hearing and the alarming critters. "I don't know..."

<Shinobi> "Carol, I don't know what to tell you... if you want to try to think through your problems instead of hide from them, I can listen... but we both need sleep."

<Carol> "I want to do that... there's just... never a good time... and I don't know if I can do that over the phone... I do want to fix this... There's just a lot of other things that are more important than me..."

<Shinobi> "Okay well maybe you should try to think of yourself as a little more important so you can take the time to figure things out?" Obi yawned again and looked at the time.

<Carol> "I don't think I have time to fall apart right now..." She rested her chin on her palm, "Maybe after we get some good press...."

<Shinobi> "Nobody said anything about falling apart. It's not an all or none thing."

<Carol> "How do you know that? What if it is?"

<Shinobi> "Okay, so you're just going into it with the attitude that shit is gonna go to hell then it'll become a self-fulfilling prophecy."

<Carol> "Because I don't know how to do this stuff on my own!"

<Shinobi> Obi took a deep breath. "Carol, one thing I know for sure is doing it in the middle of the night when we're both tired and when I have to be in court in like three hours isn't going to help either of us."

<Carol> "Yeah... I know... I should pick better times for freakouts... I told you..." She ran a hand through her hair, "I'll let you go... do that sleeping thing...."

<Shinobi> "It's fine. Just... we can get coffee, or maybe I can come see what you're doing to that old nuthouse. Then we can talk, okay?"

<Carol> "Yeah... okay.... might be easier if you visit... but not this week because I'm building a Death Star and taking care of a BAMF problem...."

<Shinobi> "Okay," he said with a soft laugh. "Well, why don't you try to get some sleep, and I'm gonna do that sleeping thing, too. We'll catch up later." He kept his eyes on the suspicious tree.

<Carol> "I'll think about sleeping... might just poke a couple power lines..." She sighed, "Thanks for the talk... it helped..."

<Shinobi> It did? Obi blinked at the tree, but nodded anyway. "Well, good. Try to have a good night, and some rest would probably help too. G'night."

<Carol> "Sorry for waking you up... 'Night..." She hung up the phone and slid it into her pocket before taking off from the tree fast enough to strip it of its remaining blossoms.

<Shinobi> He took a step back from the window. Knew it!
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Re: 11/5 Issue: Midnight Caller

Post by Esynthia »

Oi, Carol. ><
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