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 Posted: Thu Feb 04, 2010 6:52 am
"Yes," she answered, "I did. It was part of the grieving process, I suppose. You have to understand, I've spent the past few weeks thinking you were dead." Janice crossed her arms and leaned back against her bed, her features set in that familiar, stoic flatlined expression that she used often when thinking, but occasionally as a mask. For once her guest didn't have to share Janice's attention with board games, windup toys and whatever else she had in her room to occupy herself with. Her focus was completely on Vera, and the article she was turning over in her hands.
"I guess your name not being on there must have been some sort of misprint," Janice said, eyes narrowing a little.
"But you could say the same thing about the entire article."
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Posted: Sat Feb 06, 2010 6:16 pm
Vera was overwhelmed. Literally. It was too much for her to process, too much emotion to deal with, and so she...shut down. She stared at the article in her hands, so much more preferable to looking at Janice right now. "I," she started to say, stopping before really getting anywhere.
"My mother," she said instead, shifting one shoulder upwards in a resigned shrug. "I don't know how she did it." Vera looked over at the other girl then, her eyes displaying a kind of cynical defeat deep within the violet depths. Her mother, always manipulating Vera's life to better display herself. As if Vera was simply some kind of trophy, a wind-up toy sent off to do whatever she wanted.
"...What do you mean?"
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Posted: Sat Feb 06, 2010 6:51 pm
Vera's eyes, intense and observant, were dimming over the newsprint until they were spent, bitter coals. This was unsurprising, it was a lot to take in, but it was still a bit halting for Janice to watch, as if she were expecting Vera to... take the news better, or something to that effect. Maybe she'd brought it forth too strongly, should have paced things a little differently.
A hand came up to stroke at her sharp chin, small hints of curiosity and concern softening the harsh lines of her face a little bit. Don't know how she did what? Got Vera out of Barren Pines, or something else?
"I mean," Janice responded, setting her own questions aside for the moment, "that this article, this story, this... work of journalism, is more suited for a tabloid magazine than the city newspaper. Besides the simple fact that many people died, it's a shoddy coverup, a strange fiction. A lie, Vera. Its truth begins at the word tragic and ends there as well."
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Posted: Sat Feb 06, 2010 7:24 pm
Vera really didn't know how her mother did anything. She'd tried to understand when she was younger, after the divorce, but as time passed, she'd simply ceased to care. Her mother was some kind of incomprehensible force of nature, as far as Vera was concerned. It was, perhaps, a good thing that Janice hadn't asked any of her questions - Vera would have been at a loss to explain anything.
"How do you know?" Her eyes flickered back to life slowly, a small spark of curiousity burning through the apathy that had descended previously. Janice certainly sounded like she knew about this, about what had really? happened.
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Posted: Sat Feb 06, 2010 9:37 pm
"How do I know," Janice parroted, and she re-crossed her arms, taking a slow breath. For a moment she just sat there like that, looking at Vera, her face narrowing back into that sharp, straight, irritatingly and deliberately unreadable expression. Except Vera could, uncannily, read it to some extent: even if their mutual but not unfriendly silent treatment had come to an end, that did not erase their ability to understand each other's body language almost as if it were plain English. And right now Janice's pose and expression said very clearly that she had a means of knowing the real story behind Barren Pines.
"That's a good question." She canted her head a bit to the side, and she allowed herself a small and crooked smirk. "One that will take a while to answer."
This response was dissatisfying, also confusing as hell.
"The truth is stranger than fiction, Valentine, and with our fairy tale being so strange already... well. For now, let's just say it's a longer story than you think it is. Longer and more unusual than you could imagine it being."
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Posted: Sun Feb 07, 2010 2:28 pm
Vera's eyes narrowed slightly as Janice repeated her question. There was something in her tone, which was more clearly expressed in her bearing, that set Vera slightly on edge. She did know something. And wasn't sharing it. Vera's face flickered into a brief frown and she stood up abruptly.
If she'd wanted to play verbal games like this, she'd just go talk to her mother. "Perhaps we should get something to eat."
If Janice didn't want to tell her what was going on, then fine. She didn't really want to know anyway.
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Posted: Sun Feb 07, 2010 2:39 pm
Janice's motions remained cool and slow in front of Vera, uncoiling herself from her lotus position on the floor without any need to uncross her arms to keep her balance. She finished her oily monologue with a bemused, "Don't worry. You'll know everything there is to know eventually. It's just not something I can effectively reveal to you all at once, I'm afraid."
Not that that did anything to change how incensed Vera suddenly was, which hadn't gone unnoticed. That was a good thing, though. It meant she was curious, receptive if given a chance to listen.
"Maybe we should," Janice agreed, opening the door and leading Vera back downstairs. "What do you think sounds better, Chinese or Italian?"
She already knew the answer would be Italian.
[FIN]
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