|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Mon Feb 04, 2013 5:13 pm
Even now that he had a room on the second floor, some things about dorm life never changed. Hauling a basket down to the laundry room to do laundry was one of them. Jordan closed the door on the washer, turned it on, and went to flop down on one of the battered couches along the outer wall. He could go back upstairs and get something done or go out to the training field or gym and work out, but he was out of sorts, uneasy and uncomfortable in a way he couldn't quite identify. The feeling had dogged him since they'd come out of the simulation, or trance, or whatever it had been.
He stayed on the couch and stared at the line of washing machines without seeing them.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Feb 04, 2013 5:51 pm
There was a soft singing that announced Candace's arrival before she was actually in the laundry room, a pleasant little song she'd been listening to on her iPod recently. She waltzed into the room with her basket of laundry in her arms, a few of Molly's things mixed in with her own. Candace didn't notice Jordan at first, not until after she had already put everything into the washer and turned around. The singing stopped the moment she saw she wasn't alone in the room.
"Ah...hi.."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Feb 04, 2013 5:57 pm
Jordan refocused as he heard singing. Someone else was coming. He should grab his book so that he wasn't staring creepily at whoever else was doing their laundry -- he'd forgotten his book upstairs. Oh. Great.
Candace didn't notice him as she came in and started loading laundry into one of the washers; he turned his attention to the ancient bulletin board instead, reading the various notes tacked up there and wondering once again why exactly someone had chosen to draw a hand turkey in the bottom corner. Boredom, probably.
When Candace noticed he was there, he gave her a small, awkward smile. "Hey," he said. Then, "Er - sorry."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Feb 04, 2013 6:31 pm
"Sorry? Oh, no. You're fine. I should've been paying more attention. Candace held her basket against her, standing awkwardly near the washers. "Sooo...how are things? Harrison doing okay?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Feb 05, 2013 8:05 am
"Yeah, thank God for weapon-assisted recovery times. B0nez has it handled." Jordan paused, reminded uncomfortably of the other B0nez all over again. "How are you holding up?" he asked quickly.
Then he frowned and shook his head, annoyed with himself. "Okay, this is stupid and awkward. Let me try this again. That mission sucked. Are you okay?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Feb 07, 2013 2:48 pm
Oh good. Candace smiled, looking very relieved by the news. Harrison would be okay. She would have to ask him to hang out soon, it had been far too long since they had. She was about to answer Jordan's abrupt question until he shook his head and spoke again. Well..yes, this was awkward.
The mission did suck. Everything had been going so well until Mark woke them up. Did they even find the artifact they were supposed to be looking for? It would be nice if they would ******** tell them what the artifacts even looked like so they knew what to be looking for. But the important thing to her personally had been Harrison first and foremost. "...Ah.." Candace fidgeted with her basket, frowning as she shrugged and walked over to the couch Jordan was occupying. "Yeah, I guess. I mean...it's kind of weird, having someone else's memories in my head even though she was..basically me...kind of.." She ruffled her hair with a sigh. "It's confusing, but other than that I'm okay. And you?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Feb 07, 2013 2:53 pm
" ... I don't know," Jordan admitted. "Still feeling weird. Like something's out of place, but I can't pin down what." He sighed and leaned back, resting his head against the wall. "I dreamed that the other me came back to be a part of me, and I don't really know if I like that idea."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Feb 07, 2013 3:07 pm
Whaaaaaaat.. "That's...creepy.." Candace wasn't sure what to say to that. Condolences? Sorry your other self wanted to be part of your life? That hadn't happened to her, but she probably wouldn't mind it. She liked her other self.. "What's the worst that could happen, right? He was you just a..kind of...colder you.." Okay she wasn't sure where she was going with that.
This was too awkward.
Eventually Candace got tired of standing and moved to sit on the arm of the sofa, setting the basket down on the floor. "Was it just a dream or did it, like...do you feel any different?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Feb 07, 2013 3:22 pm
"It is." Jordan pulled his foot up to rest his heel on the seat of the couch, frowning a little. "I could see how he got the way he was. I guess it's just weird knowing that I could have been like that, if things had gone another way." He shook his head. "It was just a dream. Not real. I'm not sure if that helps."
He gave her a thoughtful look. "Just me, huh?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Feb 07, 2013 4:37 pm
"Well when he wasn't being creepy and kind of sadistic he was very you." Candace grinned, playfully pushing Jordan's leg with her foot. "Though he was scarier than you."
Candace sighed and propped her heel on the edge of the couch, putting her elbow on her knee and holding her head up. "...Rep and I had a talk the other day." She figured that would be something Jordan would be interested in.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Feb 08, 2013 5:13 am
"I suppose I should work on that, then," Jordan said gravely, relaxing a little. Candace's friendly acceptance helped to ease the faint sense of alienation. He was still himself; he had friends, people he could trust.
The corner of his mouth pulled down at her second statement, and he put his foot back on the floor, leaning his elbows on his knees and turning a little to meet Candace's eyes. "How'd it go?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Feb 08, 2013 10:17 am
Candace shrugged. "A little bit of the expected, a little bit of unexpected. There was some fighting, some talking." What she hadn't been expecting was just how honest he ended up being with her. "We're going to attempt this weird thing called friendship. Weird, right?" She chuckled, picking distractedly at the couch. It was hard to shake off betrayal, having never been stabbed in the back so hardly before, but she'd try.
"..I don't think I'd mind that other Candace being part of me." She mused aloud, thinking back to how the other Candace had been. She liked her methods, how easily she was able to shove aside her personal feelings and just...get things done. And she could do it without crying, without causing a scene, ******** everything up.
Candace was tired of messing up. The other her never messed up.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Feb 08, 2013 11:11 am
"Very weird," Jordan agreed solemnly, but he was relieved. He'd half expected to hear that the talk had been disastrous and that there would be new and uncomfortable strains for him to deal with. " ... I'm glad."
"Huh, really?" He gave Candace a curious look; she seemed to have liked her other a lot more than he'd liked his.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Feb 08, 2013 11:38 am
"Thought you'd be. Apparently I was being insensitive to how he felt without even realizing it. Which he told me." Candace actually looked a bit perplexed as she said this. She was trying to think of a time she may have gone too far by accident. There were times on twitter, where she would say something nice and he'd flip out on her, but in person whenever he bristled up she had thought it was just...his general reaction to her presence.
Jordan's surprise actually surprised her as well. She blinked. "I like how she operated. It's...how I used to be...how I wanted to be." How she still kind of wanted to be. Candace shrugged. "She was...perfect."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Feb 08, 2013 12:04 pm
"He's really sensitive to perceived mockery," Jordan said, sighing a little. "As far as I can tell, he was used to friendliness being a lead-in to somebody wanting something from him or getting ready to laugh at him."
"Perfect?" he asked. "How so?" This line of conversation was piquing his curiosity.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reply
